The announcement comes amid increasing concerns about the viability of hedge fund investing after the recent collapse of United States-based Amaranth, which lost US$6 billion on a series of bad bets on natural gas prices. Notable Australian casualties of the drop in confidence include hedge fund managers Vertex Capital Management and Sequoia Capital Management.
Neither could attract a sufficient amount of investor capital to make the funds viable. MQ chief investment officer Nick Bird said he believed quantitative opportunities in Asia were strong and sustainable. "We are fortunate to have first-mover advantage in an area where there are significant barriers to entry", Bird said. The MQ Asia Long Short Fund was established 12 months ago and has invested in more than $55 million in assets. Macquarie division director Cathy Kovacs said she was confident it would attract local and institutional investors, despite the recent jitters. "The 12-month track record of the investment strategy used by the fund, together with the critical mass of strategy assets, has put the fund on the watch list of a number of investors, both locally and offshore", Kovacs said. The fund has two local institutional investors, including industry fund Intrust, which invested in the multi-strategy fund in December 2005/
