Paul Storey, editor, AsiaHedge
Asia-Pacific hedge fund managers are no strangers to adversity. The credit crunch is the third major structural shift that the regional industry has had to endure during the past 12 years, following the bursting of the technology bubble in 2000/2001 and the Asian financial crisis in 1997/1998. Both of those events had the potential to severely knobble the Asia-Pacific hedge fund industry in its relative infancy. This time, however, the industry is much larger, but equally, its problems are also much bigger than in previous crises.
The Asia-Pacific hedge fund industry’s total assets under management are around $120 billion, having dropped 37% in 2008 as the financial crisis worsened. The collapse of Lehman Brothers was the defining event of 2008 for the regional industry. Indeed, when the history books come to be written, Lehmans will be regarded as the catalyst for the ‘sea-change’ that...