Billy Cheung, director of the firm's Asia division, revealed that Tremont is in the process of applying for an investment advisory licence from the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission, and while the firm is initially targeting the institutional end of the market, Cheung added that retail investors may be targeted at a later date. The firm is also considering an application for a licence to serve sophisticated investors in Singapore.

In addition to Hong Kong and Singapore, Tremont also views South Korea and Taiwan as attractive opportunities for its segregated accounts business, especially as the latter two of these markets have been gradually liberalising regulations to become more hedge fund-friendly. Taiwan is next year set to widen the scope of its new private placement laws to allow investments into hedge funds.

While Japan offers the largest institutional market for hedge funds, Tremont said that it has chosen to launch in Hong Kong to leverage the growing platform of its immediate parent, OppenheimerFunds, and its "grandparent", MassMutual Financial, based in Boston.

Tremont oversees on an advisory and fully discretionary basis approximately $10 billion in assets. Its clients include institutional investors, public and private pension plans, ERISA plans, university endowments, foundations, and financial institutions, as well as high net worth individuals.

Tremont, in conjunction with Credit Suisse First Boston, also provides a series of indices to measure the performance of the hedge fund sector.