Aradhna Dayal, editor, AsiaHedge
For the Asian hedge fund industry, 2011 will be remembered as the year of contrasts. While on the one hand, excruciating markets dented performance and triggered a virtual tsunami of consolidations, on the other hand new fund launches in Asia raised almost $4.5 billion – the highest figure to be recorded since the global financial crisis of 2008.
In asset terms as well, the contrast could not be more ironic. While overall industry assets took a hit, ending 2011 at an estimated $141 billion, the past year also saw a flow of stable, long-term institutional capital (largely from US investors) move into Asian hedge funds. Even in performance terms, it is a similar story: the AsiaHedge Composite Index fell 6.51% in 2011 (with India and China country funds taking significant hits with median losses of 30% and 18%, respectively) but, at the same time, many...