A Hedge By Any Other Name... Is A Success

The land down under is on top of the world, as Australia has just been dubbed the largest hedge fund market in Asia, accounting for more than half the HF assets, according to Axiss Australia.

The land down under is on top of the world, as Australia has just been dubbed the largest hedge fund market in Asia, accounting for more than half the HF assets, according to Axiss Australia. But when Hedge Funds World Australia 2006 gets under way in Sydney, one of the world’s 10 largest hedge funds most likely will not be attending. According to The Australian, Platinum Asset Management, with A$19 billion (US$13.9 billion) AUM, usually is absent from such event because officially it doesn’t call itself a hedge fund. Oh, it does all the things a hedge fund does, like go long and short, and charge the perquisite performance fees, and the like. By it avoids using the hedge fund label, which still makes some folks queasy. Still, Platinum has spun its hedge fund talent into gold, so much so that it now is a good hunk bigger than the fund that seeded it, George Soros’ Soros Fund Management, which has just US/A$14 billion AUM.

Speaking of rich hedge fund people and Australia, Ashok Jacob is heading to New York to try to get investors to join the family business – in this case Ellerston Capital – the hedge fund group of the Packer family, the continent’s richest. Jacob’s mission is to try to attract other rich people to invest in Ellerston Global Equity Managers Fund with the aim of doubling its US/A$375 million AUM. This reportedly is the first time Ellerston is seeking outside investors, partly to give their managers an opportunity to manage – and make – more money.