According to research by AsiaHedge, the number and size of new Asian hedge funds rose to record highs in the first six months of the year. ...

According to research by AsiaHedge, the number and size of new Asian hedge funds rose to record highs in the first six months of the year. Fifty-five new Asian hedge funds raised more than $3.5 billion in the first half and of those, 13 funds with $828 million said they would be focusing on investments in Asia, mainly China and India but excluding Japan, AsiaHedge said. Last year a total of 40 new Asian funds raised $1.7 billion in the equivalent period. The research also points out that the bulk of assets raised by new hedge funds in Asia occur in the second half of the year and that the figures do not take into account several very large new global hedge funds launched this year, which invest a significant proportion of their assets in Asia. These could boost the investable capital of new funds by an additional $2 billion, according to AsiaHedge. Research from sister publication EuroHedge recently showed that 150 new European hedge funds had raised more than $13 billion in the first six months of this year.