Bloomberg – Pacific Alternative Asset Management Co., an $8.6 billion U.S. fund-of-hedge-funds, is seeking to raise money from pensions and sovereign wealth funds in Asia to diversify its investor base.
U.S. investors account for 85 percent of its clients, mostly institutional, with the rest spread across Asia, Europe and the Middle East, said David Walter, Singapore-based director for the Irvine, California manager known as Paamco. The company is looking at Asian managers employing relative-value strategies and those investing in high-yield stocks, he said.
Paamco, which invests in emerging hedge-fund managers around the world for clients including the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, is seeking to capitalize on growing demand in Asia for alternative investments such as hedge funds and real estate. Almost three in 10 institutional investors in the region say increasing holdings of alternative and non-correlated assets is one of their highest priorities over the next 12 months, according to a survey in September by Natixis (KN) Global Asset Management.
“Asian investors are becoming more sophisticated and open to alternative investments,” Walter said in a telephone interview yesterday. “There is now great potential to expand our relationships in the region.”
