Singapore-based Monterey Capital Management Pte way exceeded the equity l/s returns generated by Asia ex-Japan hedgies last year.PARA_BREAK_SENTINEL_9f8e7d6c

Singapore-based Monterey Capital Management Pte way exceeded the equity l/s returns generated by Asia ex-Japan hedgies last year. Whilst the market could only muster +9.86 per cent, the Monterey Japan Equity Fund generated returns of +19 per cent reported Bloomberg this week. Since it was launched in 2006, the fund has generated +101 per cent through November 2010, putting it in pole position in the Japan-focused hedge fund category: Impressive returns and certainly the kind of track record that should pique the interest of institutional investors. Indeed, having only started out with USD18million, Monterey’s CEO Kei Murata plans to grow the fund’s assets to USD240million over the coming years. The fund uses options and futures to hedge its positions, and typically only looks at companies with a market capitalization of 20billion yen to 30billion yen. Murata was bearish on consumer finance last year, but on the long side stocks that helped deliver returns included Skymark, Japan’s budget airline provider, whose stock tripled, and Asahi Diamond Industrial Co., (6140:JP) whose stock climbed 129 per cent. Murata said that 40 per cent of the fund’s investors were Japanese institutional investors and HNW individuals, with the rest coming from overseas.