UK-based Wessex Asset Management, founded by Peter Chesterfield (pictured) and Tim Weir in 1999, is reportedly closing three hedge fundsPARA_BREAK_SENTINEL_9f8e7d6c

UK-based Wessex Asset Management, founded by Peter Chesterfield (pictured) and Tim Weir in 1999, is reportedly closing three hedge funds, one of which invests in Asia Pacific, reported Reuters this week citing a letter to WAM’s investors. The firm has reportedly suffered double-digit losses in 2011, a challenging year for the hedge fund community at large which has seen returns remain negative, -3.3 per cent YTD, according to the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index. Assets in the Wessex Asia-Pacific Fund, an equity l/s vehicle, have fallen to USD11million, the fund’s NAV having slumped some 27 per cent in 2011 to October according to the letter seen by Reuters. The firm’s gold hedge fund was down 37 per cent in 2011, whilst the natural resources fund was down 34 per cent through October this year. The letter said that the funds are now too small to have any “realistic prospect of growing back to critical mass”. “We still believe in value investing in Asia, in the commodity super cycle and the gold bull market, but value investors need longer holding periods than are allowed to small hedge funds in these markets,” said the firm.