(Reuters) - The 2008 Reuters Hedge Fund and Private Equity Summit will feature interviews with leading industry executives and managers from April 7-9 in New York, London, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Below are some facts about the Asia-Pacific hedge fund industry:
SIZE AND GROWTH OF THE INDUSTRY
Asia-Pacific hedge fund assets under management rose 21 percent in 2007 to $160 billion, according to hedge fund research firm and consultancy Eurekahedge. This compared with a rise of 30 percent a year earlier.
The Singapore-based firm said assets under management have since fallen. The 1,150 Asia-Pacific focused hedge funds in its database at the end of February managed $156 billion in assets.
PERFORMANCE
Asia-focused hedge funds are among the industry's worst performers globally since the start of this year.
After producing five straight years of double-digit percentage gains, the Eurekahedge Asian Hedge Fund Index is down about 7.11 percent this year. This compares with declines of 1.61 percent and 3.89 percent respectively in its North American and European indexes.
Asian hedge funds were hit hard by tumbling stocks, partly because equity-focused long/short funds are overrepresented compared to more developed markets. While these funds are supposed to profit in both rising and falling markets, analysts said in many cases they are long-biased.
MSCI's measure of Asian stocks outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS dropped more than 14 percent in the first three months of 2008, its worst quarterly performance in more than five years.
HONG KONG VS SINGAPORE
Hong Kong is home to more hedge fund assets than any other Asian city. But a growing number of hedge fund managers are choosing to set up in Singapore, where authorities have sought to attract the industry with accommodative regulation.
A Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) survey released in 2006 said there were 118 hedge fund managers operating in the territory with $33.5 billion under management.
A Monetary Authority of Singapore report released last July said at the end of 2006 there were about 190 hedge fund managers based in the wealthy city state, running more than S$40 billion (about $29 billion) in assets.
(For summit blog: summitnotebook.reuters.com/)
($1=1.379 Singapore Dollar)
(Compiled by Jeffrey Hodgson in Hong Kong; editing by Kim Coghill)
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