Financial crisis? What financial crisis? Hedge fund investors are once again rushing into new funds, especially those launched by veterans of brand-name firms. According to Bloomberg, at least six new hedge funds figure to launch this year with at least $1 billion after eight firms raised at least that amount in all of 2014. This is the most new funds starting with at least eight figures since 2005, when 13 raised a combined $19 billion, according to the report. Among those figuring to raise at least $1 billion include Brevan Howard Asset Management co-founder Chris Rokos and former Elliott Management manager Didric Cederholm, according to Bloomberg.
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Meanwhile, Alexander Captain, who left Tiger Global Management last week, is planning to launch his own fund, Cat Rock Capital, according to Absolute Return. The Greenwich, Connecticut long-short fund figures to begin trading in June.
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Total assets in the Asia-Pacific hedge fund industry surged to $145 billion at year-end, up from $112 billion at the end of 2013, according to London-based Preqin. The alternatives data specialist stresses in a report that Asia-Pacific hedge funds have consistently outperformed the wider hedge fund community, noting they have posted higher returns over 2014, and on a two-year, three-year and five-year annualized basis. This remains a fraction of the industry-wide $3 trillion in assets as well as the $609 billion managed by European hedge funds. Even so, Hong Kong, Australia and Singapore ranked among the 10 countries with the largest amount of hedge fund assets under management, according to Preqin.
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Hedge fund of funds firm Titan Advisors will host its second annual Insurance Industry Hedge Fund Investing Summit on April 23 in New York City. The conference is designed to convince more insurance companies to invest in hedge funds. Titan manages about $4 billion in assets.
