February 2008 | Financial Times
Adept Target Asia with Fund of Funds

By Sundeep Tucker

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Adept Capital Partners Advisers is seeking to capitalise on Asia’s soaring economic growth with the launch of a fund of funds that will invest in early-stage hedge funds focused on the region.

How much to invest in start-up hedge funds is the subject of intense industry debate but Adept believes managers of such funds are especially driven, nimble and focused on high performance.

The fund, based in Hong Kong, is led by two long-time industry figures in the region: Eleni Istavridis, chief executive, and Tony Smith, chief investment officer.

Ms Istavridis is a former head of Asia global institutional services for Bankers Trust, while Mr Smith managed a proprietary fund of Asian hedge funds for Kim Eng Securities until 2006.

The capacity of the fund will be capped at $150m (£75m, €101m) with a maximum of 20 underlying investments, all of which must be less than three years old and managing assets less than $250m at the time of Adept’s investment.

Adept, targeting annualised returns of 15-20 per cent, will be permitted to invest in pan-Asian and single-country Asian hedge funds operating across a range of investment strategies.

Ms Istavridis said Adept’s aim was to capture the “superior absolute returns” that can be generated by early-stage hedge funds.

Adept also cites data from EurekaHedge showing that, since April 2004, the Asia Pacific Hedge Fund index has outperformed the comparable regional index for equities as well as hedge fund indices in north America and Europe.

Ms Istavridis added: “Asia’s markets are growing in liquidity and sophistication and we want to capitalise on that by investing in hedge funds run by hungry and talented managers. We believe that our presence and networks in Asia will help us to identify the best managers.”

Adept is affiliated with Sniper Capital, a property manager with $250m in assets under management.

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