ADM Capital raises $418 mln for new debt fund

HONG KONG, April 24 (Reuters) - Distressed debt specialist ADM Capital said on Thursday it raised $418 million with the launch of its latest fund, helping the hedge fund manager to boost its overall assets to $2.4 billion.

The Hong Kong-based firm said its new Maculus Fund V, a five-year private equity style closed-end vehicle investing in special situations and distressed assets in Asia and Europe, had closed for subscriptions.

Robert Appleby, the firm's chief investment officer, told the Reuters Hedge Funds and Private Equity Summit in Hong Kong earlier this month that the firm was looking to raise $600-$700 million with the fund.

But he said on Thursday that the firm decided to close the Maculus vehicle early so it could move more quickly to deploy the cash to existing market opportunities.

ADM also noted that since December, it raised a further $163 million for its flagship distressed debt-focused ADM Galleus hedge fund.

"We continue to keep the Galleus fund open, and through the course of the next few months we will raise money. And then we'll close off when we have enough capital to meet some of the opportunities that we're seeing," he told Reuters.

The Galleus fund posted a return of 14.06 percent in 2007, beating the CSFB Global High Yield Bond Index, according to its monthly report.

The former Credit Agricole Indosuez and Lehman Brothers executive said the current market offered some of the best opportunities for distressed-asset investing the firm had seen in Asia for many years.

ADM began investing in distressed debt in 1998 following the Asian financial crisis. Its funds often buy out existing creditors in order to initiate financial or corporate restructuring of companies that are delinquent or at risk of bankruptcy. (Reporting by Jeffrey Hodgson, editing by Will Waterman)