Each business day HedgeCo.Net keeps you informed with the top hedge fund industry news, opinion and insight from around the globe. From the latest hedge fund launches, to the impact of regulation, competition, and investor activism - we track the topics and people that make a difference to you.
Bloomberg – Pinpoint Investment Advisor Ltd., a hedge fund manager of $560 million, returned as much as four times its Asian peers this year through July with profits from a rebound in Chinese stocks and debt securities.
The $70 million Pinpoint Opportunities Fund, which gained 85 percent in the period, invested about half its assets in convertible and high-yield bonds, including those of Chinese property developers, said Duanmu Yongshan, Pinpoint’s Hong Kong- based chief marketing officer. The $300 million Pinpoint China Fund returned nearly 51 percent in the period, he said.
Bloomberg – Pinpoint Investment Advisor Ltd., a hedge fund manager of $560 million, returned as much as four times its Asian peers this year through July with profits from a rebound in Chinese stocks and debt securities.
The $70 million Pinpoint Opportunities Fund, which gained 85 percent in the period, invested about half its assets in convertible and high-yield bonds, including those of Chinese property developers, said Duanmu Yongshan, Pinpoint’s Hong Kong- based chief marketing officer. The $300 million Pinpoint China Fund returned nearly 51 percent in the period, he said.
Bloomberg – Abax Global Capital Ltd., a Hong Kong-based hedge fund manager backed by Morgan Stanley, plans to start a private equity fund in China that invests in companies making environmentally friendly products such as clean energy.
The yuan-denominated fund aims to raise about 500 million yuan ($73 million) from Chinese investors by its first close in two months, Donald Yang, Abax’s Hong Kong-based president, said in a phone interview Aug. 21. It will be sponsored by a large Chinese financial institution, whose name he declined to reveal because of pending regulatory reviews of the plan.
Reuters – UBS has named Alastair Sclater to the new post of head of its Singapore prime brokerage, as the Swiss bank aims to build that business in Asia’s second-biggest centre for hedge funds.
Singapore, which competes with rival Asian financial centre Hong Kong, has attracted asset managers, private banks and hedge funds in recent years with tax incentives and strict secrecy rules.
The city-state also provides investors the opportunity to manage part of the more than $300 billion in assets held by its sovereign wealth funds GIC and Temasek.
NASDAQ – Tribridge Investment Partners Ltd., a Hong Kong-based hedge fund manager, said Monday it will launch a new fund in August and hired John Liptak, former head of Bank of America Corp.’s Asia special situations group, to run it.
The new fund will have a pan-Asia focus and seek to identify mispriced or undervalued securities due to financial stress, some corporate event or other special situation. It will be biased toward large-cap companies in more developed markets in the region such as Hong Kong, Australia, Korea, Singapore, or Japan.
"I believe that the opportunities from the upcoming default cycle have not been seen since shortly after the Asian currency crisis back in 1997-1998," Liptak said in prepared remarks.
Winton Capital Management Ltd., the U.K. hedge fund with $12 billion in assets, will start a new fund in Japan and hire staff in Hong Kong as it expands when rivals such as Citadel Investment Group LLC retreat from Asia.
The London-based firm is going to advise a new fund sold to Japanese retail investors through Mitsubishi UFJ Securities Co. that will track the performance of its flagship commodity trading adviser fund as it seeks a slice of the nation’s $15 trillion in personal savings.
Reuters Hong Kong – Credit Suisse on Wednesday said a top UBS AG prime brokerage banker will join the bank as head of prime services for Asia-Pacific, based in Hong Kong.
Since 2007, Matt Pecot was the Americas head of prime brokerage services for UBS, having held a similar Asia-Pacific role with UBS from 2004 and 2007.
Credit Suisse, under less financial pressure than rival UBS, is in a position in Asia and elsewhere to poach top bankers from its peers.
Bloomberg – Abax Global Capital Ltd., a Hong Kong-based asset manager part-owned by Morgan Stanley, plans to open a hedge fund backed by Tudor Investment Corp. to outside investors for the first time.
The Abax Dymon Asia Macro Fund, which started with $113 million in August 2008, seeks to profit from regional economic trends. The fund will have a “clawback” arrangement under which half of the 20 percent performance fee earned is repaid to investors if the fund loses money in the next year.
Bloomberg – Switzerland is the world’s most attractive financial center for the “mobile wealthy,” beating London, Singapore and New York, according to a new survey by Scorpio Partnership.
The Alpine nation ranks highest for economic and political stability, legal issues, children’s education and infrastructure, the London-based wealth management adviser said. Switzerland placed fifth for tax and immigration, behind Monaco, Singapore, Cayman and Hong Kong.
“To the mobile wealthy, Switzerland is very nearly all things to all people,” said Scorpio Director Stephen Wall. It “has been and will continue to be the biggest beneficiary of moves away from London.”
Hong Kong Standard – Hong Kong remains the largest hedge fund center in Asia, with managers in the city overseeing US$22 billion (HK$171.6 billion) in assets as of December 2008, the Alternative Investment Management Association Hong Kong said.
The city had 245 hedge fund managers by December, versus 150 in Singapore and 145 in Australia. There were 30 hedge fund startups in Hong Kong in 2008, raising the most assets for Asian hedge fund managers with US$1.6 billion, the London-based AIMA said yesterday, citng AsiaHedge data. Singapore came second with US$638
Reuters – Three former executives at JPMorgan Asset Management plan to launch a Greater China hedge fund via a start-up in Hong Kong, tapping rising investor demand for Asian equities amid the global financial crisis.
"Greater China may be the first region to recover from the global economic crisis, and will certainly attract global fund flows," Lu Jun, one of the co-founders said in a telephone interview. "I think it’s good timing to launch the new fund."
Lu, previously a star fund manager at JPMorgan’s China fund venture, has teamed up with Man Wing Chung, former head of JPMorgan’s Greater China team, and Joseph Tang, who focused on Taiwan investment, to co-found JTM Capital Partners. The partners will start running a hedge fund in mid-June.
Reuters – The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) said on Tuesday it had commenced proceedings against 11 defendants related to Descartes Athena Fund SPC, a hedge fund that the regulator is investigating for allegedly falsifying accounts after liquidating the fund.
The SFC said following an urgent application in the High Court by the SFC on Monday, the court appointed two administrators. It also granted an injunction order to freeze assets of up to $90.6 million in relation to two unnamed individuals.
