Brummer to hike Bangladesh fund

Brummer and Partners, Sweden's largest hedge fund manager, plans to grow its fund to about $500 million from $53 million in Bangladesh in next five years, said a Bloomberg report yesterday.
The Swedish firm looks to take advantage of Bangladesh as one of the fastest-growing economies in the South Asian region as it benefits from its geographical proximity to India and China and for its cheap labour force, according to the report.
The firm also plans to start an Asia-focused long-short equity fund in the first half of next year once it finds the "right team to manage it" in Singapore, Bloomberg quoted Patrik Brummer, the founder of the firm, as saying.
The Stockholm-based firm, which set up Sweden's first hedge fund in 1996, hopes to replicate that "first-mover advantage" in Bangladesh, as competition for investment deals remains low, said Brummer.
Earlier, Khalid Quadir, chief executive officer of Frontier Fund, the local partner of Brummer and Partners, had told The Daily Star: “It's an equity investment fund and we want to invest it equally in listed companies, and private companies as well.”
The potential sectors to get such investment include banks, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, education and IT.
Brummer and Partners started its operation in Bangladesh in July.