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Matthias Knab, Opalesque for New Managers: Asia-focused hedge funds are having a banner year. The With Intelligence Asia Hedge Fund Index gained 9.73% in the second quarter of 2026 - the best result of any region by nearly three percentage points - and is up 8.23% for the first half, after returning 14.71% in 2025. Asia Pacific managers attracted net inflows of $1.6bn in Q2 and $3.8bn in the first half, and regional industry assets grew from $291bn to $348bn over the course of 2025, a near 20% increase.
And yet, according to the latest With Intelligence Hedge Fund data pack, almost nobody is launching new hedge funds there.
Just 4 Asia Pacific hedge funds were in development in the second quarter of 2026 - the lowest reading in the entire data set, which stretches back to Q2 2023. That compares with 13 in the first quarter and marks a dramatic decline from the 25 funds in the regional pipeline as recently as Q3 2024, and 23 in Q1 2024.
A three-year slide
The quarterly numbers tell a story of steady erosion. The APAC launch pipeline held in double digits for nearly three years - 15 in Q3 2023, 23 in Q1 2024, 25 in Q3 2024 - before drifting down through 2025 (11, 11, 10, 12) and then falling off a cliff in the most recent quarter. At 4 funds in development, Asia Pacific now trails not only North America (75) and the UK (11), but also continental Europe (8), and sits barel...................... To view our full article Click here
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