Up to 30 pct of hedge funds could close

LONDON (Reuters) - Up to 30 percent of the world's hedge funds could disappear "in a Darwinian process," according to the co-chief executive of one of Europe's biggest, GLG Partners.

Emmanuel Roman was quoted by several British newspapers as saying many hedge funds would either go bust or decide that the meagre profits were not worth the effort.

"This will go down in the history books as one of the greatest fiascos of banking in 100 years," he was quoted as saying. "There needs to be some scapegoats, and the regulators are going to go hunt people. That will be good in the long run."

"In a fairly Darwinian manner, many hedge funds will simply disappear," Roman was quoted as saying.

New York University Professor Nouriel Roubini, one of the first to warn about the U.S. housing bust, was also quoted as saying he expected hundreds of hedge funds to fail and warned that regulators could be forced to close markets to cope with the panic.

(Reporting by Kate Holton; Editing by Bernard Orr)