Investor capital is now flowing back into hedge funds, and the asset class has shown a strong turnaround in performance since the beginning of calendar year 2009. This was the message at a Knowledge Sharing Seminar for business and financial media held in the UAE today and hosted by alternative asset manager Investcorp. Khalid Al Rumaihi, Investcorp’s head of institutional investments in the Gulf, told delegates: “Today, capital is flowing back into hedge funds as financial markets have normalized, systemic risk has diminished and redemption pressures, scarcity of financing, short-selling bans, fund liquidations and regulatory uncertainty have abated. We expect allocations to the hedge fund asset class to continue to grow in 2010.”
The theme of the Investcorp seminar was 'Hedge Funds: a New Horizon' and it focused on demystifying various aspects of the asset class covering how hedge funds are structured, different investment strategies and the reasons behind historic and recent performance of the asset class. Investcorp established its hedge fund business over 12 years ago and today has a product range that includes funds of hedge funds, customized portfolios and single manager funds.
Investcorp’s head of Hedge Funds, Deepak Gurnani, said: ”The attraction of this asset class is evident from new hedge fund mandates Investcorp is winning from our clients. We now have over $4.5 billion in hedge fund assets under management and raised $1.3 billion of fresh capital in 2009. Our investors include some of the largest and most sophisticated US pension plans and insurance companies, who are seeking advanced portfolio construction, quantitative research and focus on risk management.”
