ABN AMRO believes that hedge funds will continue to grow

Mr. Gary Vaughan-Smith, Head of Alternative Investments, ABN AMRO Asset Management addressed the audience on Hedge Fund Strategies.

Mr. Gary Vaughan-Smith said that he saw a definite opportunity and period of growth for the hedge fund market for at least another 3-5 years. Macro economic factors like the weakening of the dollar and growth in the Chinese economy which had temporarily slowed down will fuel the growth and the demand for Hedge funds.

He said, "Micro economic developments like positive balance sheets of performing companies have thrown up avenues for deployment of these funds. In the context of these economic indicators, market conditions will enable an annual growth of nearly 15% in the years to come. The possibilities that arise because of these developments underline the importance of an effective Hedge Fund Strategy that ABN AMRO has been able to consistently demonstrate over the years."

"We have in fact seen strong growth in our hedge fund business adding more than $500 millions to its total hedge fund assets in 2004, and in the space of a mere three years has seen total assets under management across all ABN AMRO Asset Management hedge fund products grow from just $40 million to over $ 2 billion ", he added.

Raphael Kassin, Head of Emerging Markets Fixed Income who also spoke on the occasion said, "We have learnt from our experiences in Argentina, the immense possibilities that Hedge funds have during structural reforms when economies undergo transition. This proved to be a pointer to the immense potential that developing economies and markets have for hedge funds. "