Many hedge funds that invest in Asia are delivering poor returns since the credit crunch since they were so bullish on the region that they went long on stocks without hedging their bets, The Wall Street Journal reports. And many of these funds were invested in the same stock.
“The overwhelming majority are losing money and generally losing reasonably substantial amounts,” said Peter Douglas, an analyst at GFIA, a hedge fund consultancy based in Singapore. The Binjai Hill Asian Acorns Fund, for instance, was up 40% last year and 24% this year before the credit crisis, but now it is down 7% year to date.
“I think most people have found it a fairly brutal month,” said the fund’s manager, Justin Kendrick. Although investors haven’t pulled their money out of such funds yet, he expects a slew of redemptions over the next six months.
