Wall Street Journal- The hedge-fund party may be over in Asia. After years in which the number and assets of Asia-focused hedge funds have steadily risen, prime brokers and hedge fund managers say they expect a larger number of managers to fold up the tent this year–not so much because they are decimated by subprime debt losses, as are some in the U.S. and Europe, but because declining equity returns mean the hedge-fund managers themselves won’t be making much money.
Anecdotally, prime brokers and hedge fund managers say that so far this month the losses are approaching between 4% and 5% of equity in the funds, added to the toll on returns in January and February. Eurekahedge estimates that long/short equity funds are down about 5% year-to-date, but the Singapore-based research firm bases that data on reporting by hedge funds themselves, and the worst-performing of them have little incentive to own up to their pain this month.
