LOS ANGELES, Aug 20 — Quantedge Global Fund, Asia’s best- performing macro hedge fund, said it has increased its assets to more than US$1 billion (RM3.2 billion), joining the ranks of the region’s biggest funds.

Quantedge, which started with US$3 million in October 2006, has increased its assets under management to IS$1.05 billion at the end of June, the fund’s Singapore-based management company Quantedge Capital Pte said yesterday in an e-mailed response to queries by Bloomberg News.

Quantedge has returned an annualised 33 per cent since its inception, it said, by using its own statistical models to pick trades. That’s the best performance of all macro hedge funds that bet on economic trends based in Asia, according to Singapore-based data provider Eurekahedge Pte.

“They take higher risks than most of their competitors,” said Mohammad Hassan, an analyst at Eurekahedge. “They have been very successful in capturing the upside of the markets.”

Macro hedge funds seek to benefit from economic shifts or changes in fiscal or monetary policies by investing in bonds, currencies, stocks and commodities. Quantedge’s performance of 36 percent this year through July contrasts with a 0.6 per cent return by the Eurekahedge Macro Hedge Fund Index, which is set for the second-worst annual return since the data provider began compiling performances in 2000.

Quantedge has 19 employees in Singapore and nine in New York, it said in the e-mail. Investors include high-net-worth individuals, family offices and funds of funds, it said.

The fund was founded by former reinsurance pricing actuary Leow Kah Shin and Chua Choong Tze, who had previously taught a course in portfolio management at Singapore Management University. — Bloomberg