Asia's hedge funds assets surge to record on China stock rally

[SINGAPORE] Assets managed by Asia's hedge funds reached a record US$177 billion in May, bolstered by returns from funds trading China stocks, according to data provider Eurekahedge Pte.

Investments by funds with an Asia mandate exceeded the US$176 billion in December 2007, before the global financial crisis, Alexander Mearns, chief executive officer of Singapore-based Eurekahedge, said in an interview on June 17.

"China is the shining star in terms of returns," Mr Mearns said. "If we are seeing the same inflows as last year, and if the performance continues at the pace we have seen, Asia's hedge-fund industry could cross the US$200 billion mark very soon." North America hedge-fund assets under management are US$1.5 trillion, according to Eurekahedge.

China's market capitalisation has almost doubled to US$9.6 trillion this year, helping the returns of hedge funds investing in the country. Future gains may be limited as bearish sentiment is spreading with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index going from the world's best-performing major benchmark following a yearlong rally to the worst this week after Greece.

The Eurekahedge Greater China Hedge Fund Index has gained 25 per cent during the same time. Those returns have helped make hedge funds in Asia the best performers globally in 2015. The Eurekahedge Asian Hedge Fund Index advanced 11 per cent to the end of May, more than the 2.8 per cent gain in the North America index and the 6.4 per cent increase in the Europe gauge.

Assets under management of Asia-focused funds have grown by 10 per cent, or US$16 billion, during the first five months, said Mohammad Hassan, a Eurekahedge analyst. About US$4 billion came from net inflows and US$12 billion from performance.

An end to the China rally would "wipe out a lot of the organic growth that we have seen that has come from performance over the last quarters," Mr Hassan said.

Hedge funds investing in China make up about 40 per cent of all hedge-fund assets invested in Asia. The US$3.8 billion APS China A Share Fund and related accounts under the same strategy returned 67 per cent this year to the end of May, while the Golden China Fund returned 25 per cent.

Among other funds, the Helios Strategic Fund investing in India gained 15 per cent till the end of May.

Asia's hedge-fund industry has matured, Mearns said. While long-short equity funds, which bet on rising and falling stock prices, made up about 70 per cent of all funds investing in the region in 2002, the proportion has shrunk to 55 per cent in 2007 and 39 per cent in 2015.

By contrast, the share of funds employing more complex strategies has increased. Multistrategy funds now account for 22 per cent from 14 per cent in 2007 and the share of macro funds, which bet on economic developments, has increased to 10 per cent from 6 per cent, according to Eurekahedge.

"Exotic strategies were difficult to implement some years ago," Mr Mearns said. "Even long-short was difficult because shorting was either prohibitively expensive or impossible in many markets." Up to the end of May, 25 funds started in Asia, half compared to the same period last year, according to Eurekahedge.

Asia's lack of many hedge funds with assets of US$1 billion or larger is still preventing institutional investors from allocating to the region, Mr Hassan said.

BLOOMBERG