Economist – Eric Wong, who helps run his Hong Kong family\u2019s money through an investment office, TCG Capital, looks like a hedge-fund manager\u2019s dream. He\u2019s rich, young and, having been to university there, comfortable with American ways\u2014just the type of investor that Western hedge funds looking for Asian expansion have set their sights on. He is not, however, very interested. Real estate is the \u201cbest pension plan my family ever had,\u201d he says. Why change?<\/p>\n
Where they are not greeted with apathy, Asia-minded hedge funds often face antipathy. Since the financial crisis of the late 1990s \u201cfund\u201d has been a four-letter word throughout Asia. George Soros, a famous hedge-fund investor, is still reviled for aggravating and profiting from the crisis. When the Chinese refer to hedge funds as\u00a0ju e<\/em>, or \u201cbig crocodiles\u201d, it is not by way of a compliment on their killer instincts.<\/p>\n