Prana Capital, the UK-based investment manager that recently moved its operations to Singapore, is planning to expand its global macro hedge fund offering to take advantage of Asia's rapid growth, Bloomberg writes.

The company intends to grow the fund's size from around $125 million to $250 million by the end of 2010, with asset-raising activities targetting mostly family offices and institutions, Peregrine Cust, the firm's founder, reportedly said in an interview.

Cust had also dismissed speculation that the company moved to Singapore because of the new income tax system in London and said he simply "wanted to get up to speed" with the opportunities in Asia.

"We like to get out hands pretty dirty and meet with the companies and do that extra bit of due diligence, not just rely on that information flow from the broker community in London," Cust was quoted as having said. "It made sense to make that investment to capitalise on the long-term opportunity to move to Singapore."

Prana follows on the footsteps taken by international hedge fund managers Algebris Investment and Soros Fund Management, which have over the past months been building their businesses in the region. The Asian hedge fund industry is forecast to grow to $8 billion this year and eventually double by 2013, according to a report by Barclays PLC.