HONG KONG (Reuters) – Smaller-sized hedge funds are increasingly throwing in the towel in Asia as they struggle to attract money from risk-wary institutional investors, casting a cloud over prospects of the $128 billion industry.<\/p>\n
The latest to quit is former Lehman Brothers trader Allan Bedwick, who is shutting his $120 million Asia-based fund after giving it a two-and-half-year run, fund documents obtained by Reuters showed.<\/p>\n
Hong Kong-based Bedwick’s global macro strategy fund is Asia’s newest hedge fund victim of the global economic woes as fears of a worsening euro zone debt crisis, and slowing growth drive investors toward the safety of large and well-established funds. Nearly 40 hedge funds in Asia have shut this year.<\/p>\n
Bedwick made money for his investors but could not attract enough capital, a problem that raises a question mark on similar plans of other traders who are eyeing moving out of bank proprietary desks to start their own ventures.<\/p>\n