Hong Kong – The high cost of shorting stocks and a bull run in Asian markets for much of this decade means many of the region’s long/short equity hedge fund managers have delivered on only half their promise to investors.
Those putting money into some long/short funds might be better off in lower-cost traditional long-only fund managers, or other hedge fund strategies with a better prospect of delivering value, some industry executives told the Reuters Hedge Funds and Private Equity Summit in Hong Kong.
Already, alternative hedge fund strategies are gaining traction in Asia, where long/short equity fund managers have dominated the industry.
“I don’t think that the majority of (Asian) hedge funds have performed properly and people are getting tired of paying for the performance fees and lack of risk management. On the other hand, they’re seeing that some long-only managers can perform very well,” said George Long, chairman of multistrategy hedge fund manager LIM Advisors.
