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Hong Kong. Former Lone Pine and Goldman Sachs executives are aiming to raise $1 billion in an Asia-focused hedge fund, hoping to break into a very small group of funds of that size in the region, three sources said.

The plan indicates that more blockbuster fund launches in Asia could follow as investors, despite volatile markets, are willing to risk their money with managers who have track records.

Eashwar Krishnan, a former analyst at Greenwich-based hedge fund Lone Pine Capital, and Tanvir Ghani, former head of capital introduction for Asia Pacific at Goldman Sachs Group, are preparing to launch the fund in April, the sources said.

The fund will be based in Hong Kong, said the sources who were familiar with the duo’s plan but declined to be named as the matter was not publicly disclosed.

Ghani, who left Goldman Sachs in November after more than a decade at the Wall Street bank, would be the fund’s chief operating officer while Krishnan would lead the fund as chief investment officer, one of the sources said.

Well-known managers and traders in Asia are setting up brand new investment firms, lifting the prospects of the nascent Asian hedge fund industry.

Tried and tested fund managers expand options for an increasing number of institutional investors looking to raise exposure to the region.

“Major launches in Asia attract a lot of interest because investors looking to invest in the region are generally seeking critical mass in terms of assets under management,” said Frederick Ingham, head of hedge fund investments in the Asia Pacific for money manager Neuberger Berman.

“These large, high-profile launches help bring attention to the many trading opportunities available to hedge funds throughout Asia and are typical of an industry that is maturing.”

Lone Pine, one of the largest hedge fund firms in the world, was founded in 1997 by Steve Mandel, one of several “Tiger Cubs” who split from hedge fund industry pioneer Julian Robertson’s Tiger Management.

Lone Pine had a total fund value of $12.3 billion according to a September filing.

The launch will compete for investor attention in 2012 with offerings from regional industry veterans such as Highbridge Capital’s former Asia head Carl Huttenlocher as well as Seth Fischer, who once managed $3.3 billion for DKR Soundshore Oasis Fund.

Huttenlocher aims to raise $2 billion by mid-2012 in a hedge fund he launched on Dec. 1.

Only 29 hedge fund firms in Asia managed more than $1 billion as of January 2011, data from industry tracker HedgeFund Intelligence showed. By comparison, the United States had 216 such firms and Britain had 65.

“I won’t say it’s easy to collect $1 billion in Asia, but if you have a credible portfolio manager and a strong team to support the business, it’s possible,” said James Fallon, a Singapore-based director of financing sales in Asia-Pacific at Bank of America.

“Lone Pine has got a great reputation and not too many people have left from there over the years. That alone will get a lot of people interested,” he added.

Krishnan’s and Ghani’s start-up will join those from the likes of former Goldman Sachs trader Morgan Sze, who has launched one of the biggest hedge funds in Asia. Sze’s fund Azentus started with about $1 billion in April.

Reuters