New York-based Tiger Asia Management, one of the so-called “tiger cubs” that received seed capital from Julian Robertson, has expressed its disappointment at the fund&r
New York-based Tiger Asia Management, one of the so-called “tiger cubs” that received seed capital from Julian Robertson, has expressed its disappointment at the fund’s 2010 performance to investors in a written letter, reported Bloomberg this week. The fund only gained +0.5 per cent after fees, beating China and Japan benchmarks but lagging behind Hong Kong and Korea’s benchmarks, the latter’s HSCI Index gaining +6.4 per cent. In the investor letter, company founder Bill Hwang attributed the results to the fund’s short positions underperforming, admitting that they were a “major drag on returns”. The majority of these shorts (90 per cent) are apparently in Chinese stocks, with holdings in telecoms, media and internet sectors having been “meaningfully added” to in recent months. Hwang appears more bullish on the mainland’s automobile sector and intends to increase holdings in this growth sector “in the foreseeable future”, reported Bloomberg. Less than 10 per cent of Tiger Asia’s portfolio is focused on Korea because of the existing ban on shorting financial stocks.
