Bear Stearns is planning to launch a $450 million fund of hedge funds specialising in Asian markets, according to industry sources. More tha...

Bear Stearns is planning to launch a $450 million fund of hedge funds specialising in Asian markets, according to industry sources. More than half the fund will be allocated to Japan and it will also target China and India.

This move is part of a growing trend in the hedge fund world. In the first half of this year a record 55 new hedge funds launched in Asia, raising $3.5 billion, more than double the amount raised in the same period last year, according to AsiaHedge.

Fund of funds giant, Tremont Capital, recently announced that it is to open an office in Hong Kong to service the burgeoning Pacific Rim market and Goldman Sachs recently held a seminar to help the growing numbers of their hedge fund clients who are interested in establishing a presence in Asia.

Bill Ullman, a senior managing director at Bear Stearns, was reported as saying, "We are in the early stages of globalisation of the hedge fund business. We are seeing the rise of global alternative investment organisations such as Man Group. Many US-based hedge funds are increasingly looking to have sizeable non-US offices. London is seen as the first stage. Some have already moved on to Asia and Japan, and we have a couple of clients poking around India now."