The fund management arm of Britain's Man Group Plc expects its assets under management in Asia to grow by at least 10 to 15 percent over the next 12 to 18 months, a senior executive said on Thursday. Asia is also likely to represent a growing share of total assets under management for the world's largest listed hedge fund company, said Tim Rainsford, managing director, Asia Pacific, at its Man Investments arm. "We certainly expect hedge fund growth in the region to increase by 10 to 15 percent over the next 12 to 18 months. And being an industry leader, we expect to be at least matching that or in excess of that," he told Reuters after a media briefing in Hong Kong.   more »

A US-based hedge fund has picked up a minority stake in the Bangalore-based real estate firm Century Real Estate Holdings, a division of the Bangalore-headquartered Century Group, investing close to $100 million (Rs 400 crore) in the company. Century Real Estate Holdings is to receive $35 million in the first tranche, while the balance is expected to come in over the next few months, sources said. Century Building director Ravindra Pai confirmed the that company has offloaded a part of its stake in the recently formed realty division, but refused to divulge details.   more »

Indian hedge funds will grow rapidly despite a hesitant attitude from the country's regulators, industry participants said on Tuesday, as investors keep piling money into the nascent industry. The Indian hedge fund sector is one of the smallest in Asia, partly because tight rules make it hard to set up domestic hedge funds and burden access for foreign players, often forcing them to use cumbersome investment tools. "The Indian hedge fund industry started later because of a lack of feasible instruments ... But the fact that it is small now doesn't mean it's going to be small tomorrow," Peter Douglas at GFIA, a hedge fund research firm, told Reuters.   more »

Can the vulture nurture as well? Perhaps, it can. Distress asset funds (pejoratively called vulture funds) and distress asset arms of global hedge funds operating in India are increasingly beginning to focus on small and medium enterprises, a segment which is the preserve of commercial banks. These funds are also looking at investing in third generation entrepreneurs, where a split in the family usually means that individual members have to raise capital for their expansion. Over the past six months, funds specialising in distress assets like ADM, Clearwater, Citadel, Goldman Sachs Special Situations and DE Shaw have invested in such companies, say industry sources. For example, Spinnaker has invested in Spice Telecom and Clearwater in Sanghi Movers and earlier Diamond Cables.   more »

The US-based Avenue Capital Group, a $12-billion hedge fund manager, has signed a deal with Nikhil Gandhi-promoted SKIL Infrastructure to pick up 26% stake for around $500 million. Avenue has raised $2 billion to invest in India’s infrastructure space, and the investment in SKIL makes it the single-largest investment in one company. Sources said the fund is investing in SKIL through compulsory convertible bonds with a five-year tenure.   more »