Neuberger Berman Group LLC, the money manager that bought itself out of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., is considering providing startup capital to hedge-fund managers in Asia for the first time as it expands in the region.Its fund-of-hedge-funds division, which has invested in the region since 2002, also aims to get two more Asia funds approved by its global committee for investments, Frederick Ingham, Neuberger Berman??s Hong Kong-based head of hedge-fund investments in Asia-Pacific, said in an interview yesterday.
Asia??s strengthening economies and a flurry of acquisitions are luring investors back to the region??s hedge funds. Experienced traders and managers who left global banks and hedge funds to set up their own firms offer an attractive pipeline for investments, Ingham said.
??We??re looking at a number of early stage investments,? he said. ??The opportunity set for seed providers today in Asia is very attractive because you have a large talent pool of managers. That??s coincided with the dearth of seed capital.?
New York-based Neuberger Berman??s fund-of-hedge-funds division currently allocates about 5 percent of the $3.7 billion it oversees globally to about nine Asia-focused funds or managers based in Asia, Ingham said. The firm manages $169 billion worldwide.
