Business Times – Hedge funds that buy and short-sell stocks are over-represented in Asia and new players that can offer more sophisticated strategies will find the best opportunities, industryexperts said yesterday.
Potential growth areas include merger arbitrage funds, with the US and European merger and acquisitions boom seen heralding a similar wave in Asia.
“When we look around Asia at the merger and equity event strategies, it’s a very exciting time … if you look at Japan there’s a lot of corporate activity,” George Long, chief investment officer with hedge fund firm LIM Advisors, told an industry conference here.
“Other trends that will favour corporate activity – there’s a lot of private equity money that has been raised around the world, including Asia. That will go somewhere, including privatisations,” said Long, whose firm manages about US$600 million (US$1 = RM3.69).
Research firm Eurekahedge has said that at the end of 2005 there were 720 hedge funds investing in Asia, with about US$100 billion in assets under management, Asia makes up just a small part ofthe roughly US$1.1 trillion in hedge fund assets worldwide.
