Singapore's Chinatown new home for hedge funds

By Saeed Azhar

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Hedge fund managers around the world have clustered in locations with character, such as leafy Greenwich, Connecticut in the U.S. and the stately Mayfair neighborhood in London.

The latest focal point for hedge funds is Singapore's picturesque Chinatown, where pastel-colored traditional shop houses, ornate Buddhist temples and Chinese clan houses are within walking distance from the city-state's financial district.

"Hedge fund managers like to be in a slightly more alternative environment. It's understandable that if you've worked in an investment bank for a long time, you would seek to escape the glass-walled environment," said Kate Colchester, a director at Singapore-based hedge fund research firm Eurekahedge.

With registered hedge fund assets of about $10 billion according to Eurekahedge, the hedge fund industry in Singapore is smaller than in Hong Kong, which has about $33.5 billion in hedge fund assets, according to official data.

But adding Singapore-registered hedge funds to global hedge fund assets managed here, Merrill Lynch estimates that hedge fund assets managed in Singapore total up to $25 billion and could rise to $100 billion in three years.

While several smaller hedge funds rent space in between the restaurants and tea houses of Telok Ayer Street and Amoy Street, the centre of much of the hedge fund action is One George Street, a gleaming 23-storey office block.

Like One Curzon Street in Mayfair, the building has attracted a string of hedge fund tenants, including Tudor Capital, Man Investments and Alphadyne Asset Management.

One George Street's proximity to the city's downtown has also sucked in some of the biggest names in the traditional asset management industry as well, including Fidelity, Legg Mason and Singapore's leading fund manager Lion Capital.

The latest arrival was Swiss-based RMF, which has $23 billion of hedge fund assets globally.

In January, RMF moved its Asia headquarter to Singapore from Tokyo in January, largely because of the attractive regulatory climate, international environment, and better lifestyle for its employees.

"We made a review of all the major financial centres in Asia and after that Singapore came out at the top," said Adrian Gmuer, business manager at RMF - which is part of Man Investments.

Last year 102 Asian-focused hedge funds had their decision-making centres in Singapore, compared to 152 in Hong Kong, 122 in Australia, 80 in Tokyo and over 250 in London, Eurekahedge said.

Industry watchers say that low taxes, flexible regulation and a vast pool of money are the main attraction for hedge funds, along with Singapore's clean air and English-speaking workforce.

DRAWCARD

One major draw is the presence of two big state-backed investment firms; Temasek Holdings and Government of Singapore Investment Corp. (GIC), which manages Singapore's reserves.