Hedge fund asset migration to Asia-Pacific leaps - survey

HONG KONG (Reuters) - About three-quarters of assets under the management of Asia-focused hedge funds are managed by fund managers based in the region, up from about 60 percent three years ago, according to a survey by industry tracker AsiaHedge released on Monday.

The survey, which showed Asia hedge fund assets shrinking 5 percent in the first half to $145 billion, said $109 billion was managed from within Asia as global funds set up local offices and a growing realisation that Asian assets are best managed locally by managers based in the region.

The growth is a big leap from the year 2000, in the early years of the industry, when half of the industry's assets were managed by ex-Asia managers, mainly those in Britain and the United States, said Aradhna Dayal, editor of AsiaHedge.

"Even as late as the end of 2008 this split was 63:37, reflecting an increasingly serious commitment to regional offices by international managers in the post-2008 crisis years," Hong Kong-based Dayal told Reuters.

The growing assets of locally-managed funds launched by high profile managers such as former Goldman Sachs Group Inc trader Morgan Sze's Azentus and ex-Citadel Nick Taylor's Senrigan, and established funds in Asia contributed to the growth.

Managers based in the region managed about $77 billion in 2008, according to AsiaHedge estimates.

Hong Kong, the only centre of Asia-focused hedge funds to have increased asset in the first half of 2011, consolidated its position as the largest hedge fund centre with a near 27 percent market share, the survey showed.

Asia ex-Japan equity hedge fund strategy was the largest fund category with $28 billion in assets.

(Reporting by Nishant Kumar; Editing by Chris Lewis)