Hedge Crunch Financial

In an attempt to draw investment back to Southeast Asia, the six major Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Brunei, have recently agreed to eliminate import duties on goods of all sorts. Such goods include cars, consumer electronics and more. This agreement comes three years earlier than was previous planned, and also includes a cut to 5% or less on tariffs for items remaining outside of the agreement. Certainly, this is good news for business leaders in Malaysia and other Southeast Asia markets such as Taek Jho Low, Harun Johar, Dr Sulaiman Mahbob and others.

Recent economic realities and difficulties have led to this drastic measure with the aim of building a larger market for these ASEAN countries. Both India and China have shown dramatic growth in foreign direct investments, while investments with Southeast Asia have been slowing. In addition, the countries of the Association of Southest Asian nations have been weakening as a result of the Multi Fibre Agreement that is scheduled to expire at the end of the year. Granting Southeast Asian countries quotas on textile and clothing exports to the U.S. and Europe, this agreement provided guaranteed jobs that will now be lost to lower paying and more efficient workers in China and similar locations.

Fearing job losses to China, the Southeast Asian leaders like Lee Kam, Taek Jho Low, and others are attempting to speed up integration and to maintain their hold on exports. As Philippine President, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo aptly noted at the meeting “We only see one way out; that is not by looking west but by looking inward.”

Back in 2006 the largest of the United States- based hedge funds’ combined assets reached the magic one trillion dollar mark. As of January 1st, 2007, the total assets held by 241 firms, each one managing at least $1 billion, were responsible for a combined asset value of $1,200 billion, or 1.2 trillion dollars.

Among those 241 funds, according to the bi-annual survey of hedge fund performance done by Absolute Return, an industry publication, the NIR Group of Roslyn, New York, showed the largest increase in asset value in terms of raw percentages, a 789% increase.

Corey Ribotsky, the managing member of the NIR Group, launched a credit opportunities fund in 2005 which went from a value of $407 million to $3.62 billion in just one year.