EM hedge funds: blessing or bogey-man?

Are hedge funds a blessing or a bogey-man for the world's capital markets? When it comes to emerging markets, the answer seems to be ‘it depends'.

Investors praise them for bringing liquidity and useful volatility to EMs. But at the same time, says one manager, their importance to sell side analysts can close access to research by long-only managers.  The influence of EM hedge funds is unquestioned.  As they made 40% last year, they grew by $25bn to surpass $93bn, on the back of gains and fresh capital, according to Hedge Fund Research. The data providers found, however, their performance cooled to see them down 1.8% by the end of February.  Executive chairman of Templeton Asset Management and emerging markets guru M...