Interest in hedge funds renewed as investors return to the market

Dubai: After signs of recovery in 2009, hedge funds are expected to continue growing in the current year, an expert at a regional asset management company said Tuesday.

Khalid Al Rumaihi, head of institutional investments in the Gulf at Investcorp, said the company, a prominent alternative investments manager with its headquarters in Manama, raised $1.3 billion (Dh4.77 billion) of fresh funds in 2009.

Investcorp manages more than $4.5 billion in hedge funds assets, Rumaihi told a group of journalists in Dubai yesterday during a seminar on hedge funds.

"From our conversations with investors, I would say investors started to feel more comfortable and more new money [is] expected in the current year," he said.

Renewed interest in hedge funds after the international financial crisis hit the global economy came as a result of several factors such as return of repatriated assets, as well as "the return of some of the investors to the market after a period of concern," Rumaihi said.

According to him some US institutions played a key role in the return of investments to the hedge funds industry.