Investors should take reports of the launch of “China’s first hedge fund” with a pinch of salt. Private pools of capital with hedgie-like fee structures have been around for ages, often trading commodities futures or offshore equities. But a new offering by E Fund, China’s second-largest asset manager, is significant nonetheless. A month after the securities regulator said it would allow separately managed accounts at registered asset management companies to trade stock index futures, a manager has been granted permission to do just that. As this is China, a dozen copycat funds should be licensed within days. Domestic institutions can therefore start tiptoeing into the realm of equity hedge and relative value: the world’s most popular hedge fund trading strategies.
投資者對於「中國首隻對沖基金」誕生的報導應當有所保留。收費結構類似於對沖基金的私人資金池存在已有多年，往往交易大宗商品期貨或海外股票。但中國第二大資產管理公司易方達(E Fund)推出新基金仍具有重大意義。一個月前，證券監管機構宣佈，將允許在註冊資產管理公司持有的獨立管理賬戶交易股指期貨，如今，一家管理公司已獲准進行這種操作。按照中國通常的情況，數日之內就應該有十多家類似基金獲批。由此，中國國內機構可以開始小步涉足股票對沖和相對價值（世界上最流行的對沖基金交易策略）的天地。