As if being one of Asia’s highest profile hedge fund launches since ’07 wasn’t enough, Hong Kong-based Azentus CapitaPARA_BREAK_SENTINEL_9f8e7d6c

As if being one of Asia’s highest profile hedge fund launches since ’07 wasn’t enough, Hong Kong-based Azentus Capital looks set to become one of the fastest growing fund managers as well. Having started trading April 1 with USD1.06billion, Morgan Sze’s (pictured) fund is expected to be managing USD1.8billion by June 1, sources familiar with the situation told Bloomberg this week: an incredible 80 per cent growth in AUM in three months. The fund returned 0.3 per cent in the first month of trading. The June AUM estimate includes subscription requests received or expected, and fund performance. With Asia already having attracted a record USD3.6billion in new assets for Q1 according to Hedge Fund Research, it seems high profile former prop traders like Sze - who from 2008 to March 2010 co-ran Goldman Sachs Principal Strategies (GSPS) Group with Pierre-Henri Flamand – are attracting big tickets. With more US institutionals looking to invest in hedge funds, manager pedigree is of paramount importance, particularly when allocating to startup funds like Azentus. Roughly 80 per cent of net new assets were allocated to funds managing USD5billion or more in AUM last year according to Hedge Fund Research. Whether the soft closing of large funds will have a trickle down effect and help medium-sized Asian hedge funds compete for capital with the likes of Azentus and other high profile funds remains to be seen.