Bloomberg- Asia Genesis Management, a hedge fund based in Singapore that manages about $450 million, has increased cash holdings to 95 percent of its assets as losses from U.S. subprime mortgagesspread.
“This is not the time to take more risk,” said Chua Soon Hock, who founded the company in 1999 and serves as managing director. Many investors have been hurt as more hedge funds report losses and “the number will increase over time,” he said.
Prices of stocks, emerging-market bonds and corporate debt are slumping on concern that managers of the largely unregistered pools of capital will sell riskier assets to cover losses.
Macquarie Fortress Investments, a fund run by the largest Australian securities firm, said Tuesday that it had been forced to sell assets and use the proceeds to reduce borrowings and comply with lending covenants.
Asia Genesis takes advantage of the Bank of Japan’s 0.5 percent benchmark borrowing cost to buy higher-yielding assets, according to the company’s Web site. The fund has no exposure to subprime mortgage debt, Chua said.
