05.05.2010 GFIA white paper: Slower and smaller fund launches in the Asian hedge fund universe
Opalesque Industry Updates - GFIA pte ltd, the Singapore based specialist in skill-based managers in Asian and emerging markets, has released a research paper on the trend of the Asian hedge fund launches, including a review of how the strategy mix has changed over the years.

In this paper, GFIA studied the profile of the fund launches, and uncovered that despite a slow growth in the number of new fund launches, the industry is still progressing at a healthy rate, although the launches are getting smaller. The most currently relevant findings are:

  • It is increasingly difficult for new and smaller funds to raise assets. As of end-March 2010, 70% of the funds launched in 2008 and 2009 are still US$50m or less.
  • Managers are launching smaller funds. The average fund launch size in 2009 had decreased to US$40m at launch, half the figure for 2007.

Peter Douglas CAIA, principal of GFIA, commented: “The key issue for the majority of hedge funds in Asia is the current difficulty in raising assets. There’s no shortage of great managers and underexploited opportunities – the constraint is finding allocators with the experience, mandate, or confidence to allocate to skill-based managers in Asia.”

The white paper is available on request from GFIA, or at www.gfia.com.sg (registration required)

- FG
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