January 2008 | Morning Star
New Asia-Focused Fund of Hedge Funds eyes Early Stage Funds

By Dow Jones Newswires , Ellen Sheng

HONG KONG – (Dow Jones)- Hong Kong-based boutique investment firm Adept Capital Partners Advisers has launched a fund focusing on early stage Asian hedge funds.

The fund, launched Jan. 1, targets young, Asia-focused funds that are within three years of inception and have less than US$250 million under management.

“Young funds outperform mature ones; the fund managers have an intense drive to succeed,” Adept Chief Executive Eleni Istavridis said Thursday, citing a number of studies from PerTrac, Eurekahedge and others showing better returns from startup funds.

The fund is being run by Tony Smith, who ran a similar fund focused on early- stage funds when at Kim Eng Securities.

Istavridis said the firm has identified 15 funds for the portfolio already and will keep the fund to about 15-20 holdings. The fund will be capped at US$150 million.

About half of the fund’s holdings will be in the equity long-short strategy, while 20% will follow multi-strategy. About half of the holdings will be pan- Asian funds while the rest will have a single-country focus on China, Japan, India, Korea, or Australia.

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