Hedge fund firm sees big potential in Asia debt

By Joseph A. Giannone

NEW YORK (Reuters) - As hard-hit Western banks and hedge funds scramble to sell their Asian loans and bonds, one newcomer expects to pick up these choice assets at rarely seen discounts.

Opvs Group is launching two Asia-focused credit funds designed to benefit from the region's underlying growth potential by acquiring debt at prices depressed by the global financial crisis.

That's a classic opportunity, said Barry Dick, who left Merrill Lynch last year as its Asia head of debt products distribution and co-founded Opvs.

"Asia has been sold off in line with the rest of the world. It really looks like a case of the baby thrown out with the bathwater," Dick said in an interview.

Dick founded the Singapore-based firm with three other Asia veterans: Chris Francis, who ran Asian credit and later equities research at Merrill; Sandeep Gill, former global credit derivatives head at DBS Group Holdings Ltd; and Tommy Kim, co-founder of Singapore-based HFG Investments Pte.

This team spent the past year building a 25-person firm that will be dedicated to the region and, for now, one asset class.

"There are a lot of boutique operations in the region -- five guys in a garage and a prime broker -- but we wanted to build a large asset management company, the best in Asia, with very specialized investment teams."

Opvs is rolling out two funds in the coming month.