WEST PALM BEACH, FL (www.hedgeco.net- Many Asian hedge fund managers are registering their funds with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, according to the report, such strategy will enable the managers to attract more investor assets, but at the same time will open their funds to the SEC’s regulatory oversight.

The SEC hedge fund laws passed last year allows managers with up to 2 year lock-up provisions to avoid its regulatory oversight, but SEC officials maintains that such provision may be revised if too many managers use such loophole to avoid SEC oversight. Beginning from February 1, 2006, all U.S. based hedge fund managers, overseeing greater than $30 million in investment assets, or more than 15 clients must register their funds with the SEC.

But some Asian Hedge fund managers are not happy about registering their funds with the SEC according to Mark Shipman, a partner at law firm Clifford Chance in Hong Kong, "It’s something that’s worrying the local markets because no one wants to be overseen by the SEC”, Shipman noted.

Lately the Asian hedge fund sector has been experiencing significant demands from aspiring hedge fund investors. Reports compiled by ABN AMRO shows that the total hedge fund assets managed by the Asian based hedge fund managers will rise by about 20 percent up to $90 billion during 2005. There is also a wide demand of hedge fund investments from the institutional managers such as pension funds.

According to published reports, majority of the assets invested in Asian hedge funds are coming from outside Asia, up to 60 percent of such assets come from European, Middle Eastern and local investors, but the largest block of investments are coming from the US based investors. Hedge fund market analysts think it is inevitable for Asian hedge fund to register with the SEC because of the level of assets coming from U S based investors.

Source: http://www.hedgeco.net/news_story.php?id=3060