Japanese Pensions Expect Less From Hedge Funds

"If you do anything just for money you don't succeed."

Barry Hearn, snooker promoter

According to a recent Russell Alternative Investment Survey on Japan, pension funds there account for just over 9% of total allocations. Further, Japanese investors expect hedge funds to return only 4.6% on average through fiscal year 2009. This is significantly lower than the roughly 9% annual return forecast by institutions in North America, Europe and Australia.

While the discrepancy in anticipated returns is indeed curious, it certainly opens the door for a number of hedge fund of fund operators that look to close the current 2007 calendar year with returns running in the 10-12% on annualized volatility of around 6%. The coming year should be a slam dunk for sales, no? Mahalo.