Hedge Fund Intelligence HFI Hong Kong Report April 2014 | Page 4

OVERVIEW HONG KONG 2014

HONG KONG 2014 OVERVIEW

Developing a world-class
Asian hedge fund centre
Hong Kong has established itself as the dominant centre in Asia’s fast-evolving hedge fund
world – with a growing pool of local investment talent, with international-quality strengths
in infrastructure and operations, and with China’s rapidly emerging asset management
industry as its backyard. Philip Moore reports on the challenges and the opportunities that lie
ahead in developing Hong Kong into a truly world-class global hedge fund centre

T
OVERVIEW

he year 2013 was a mixed one for Asian hedge funds in general
and for Hong Kong’s hedge fund industry in particular. New funds
in the region raised $3.85 billion last year, according to AsiaHedge
data, down by almost 19% from 2012’s total of $4.74 billion.
The number of new funds, however, grew to 71 from 65 – suggesting
a decrease in average launch sizes.
Hong Kong, however, strengthened its position as Asia’s hedge fund capital in
2013, accounting for 53% of the assets raised by new funds at just over $2 billion
and being the location of choice for 28 of those 71 new funds.
By contrast, managers in its closest competitor, Singapore, raised just $469 million, while those in Australia and Japan attracted $256 million and $100 million
respectively. Hong Kong’s dominance was especially pronounced in the second
half of 2013, with 14 new launches raising $1.48 billion of a regional total of
$2.39 billion, equating to a market share of 62%.
Activity in the market in the first quarter suggests that this 2014 total is set to
eclipse last year’s. “In both Singapore and Hong Kong, it has been an extraordinarily busy start to the year,” says Dan McNicholas, head of sales for alternative
investment servicing solutions, Asia-Pacific, at State Street in Hong Kong.
4 Special Report March 2014

© HedgeFund Intelligence

KEY FACTS
Number of new Asian hedge funds: by location of manager
Country
2008
2009

H1 H2 H1 H2
UK
4
6
1
6
Australia
4
4
2
4
Japan
1
1
3
5
Singapore 11
4
9
7
USA
4
0
3
2
Hong Kong 23
7
18
12
China
0
0
1
1
Other
3
3
2
1
Total
50 25 39 38
Source: AsiaHedge Database and survey
© HedgeFund Intelligence

2010
H1 H2
0
0
5
2
3
0
10
5
4
0
42
16
1
0
5
3
70 26

2011
H1 H2
0
1
7
5
2
0
10
7
0
1
7
13
2
1
0
2
28 30

2012
H1 H2
1
2
4
4
1
0
5
5
1
2
25
11
0
1
2
1
39 26

2013
H1 H2
3
2
4
3
4
3
6
5
2
1
14
14
3
1
2
4
38 33
March 2014 Special Report 5