Pacific group , founded by a former PaineWebber Inc. trader, is converting one-third of its hedge-fund assets into physical gold, betting that prices will go up as governments print more money to pay off debt.
The Hong Kong-based asset manager plans to take delivery of $35 million worth of gold bars that can be traded on the London Bullion Market Association and other international markets, William Kaye, its founder and chief investment officer, said in a telephone interview on Jan. 18. It has secured vault space at Hong Kong International Airport to store the gold, he said.
Investors disillusioned with government money printing to service “insurmountable” public debt may seek alternatives to fiat currencies, Kaye said. Asset managers, including Soros fund LLC, Paulson & Co. and Sprott Inc., are betting on the precious metal even after a 12-year rally has cemented the longest bull market in at least nine decades.
“Gold, the way we look at it, is anywhere from being undervalued to being seriously undervalued,” Kaye said. “We’re in the early stages, in our judgment, of what would likely be the world’s largest short squeeze in any instrument.”
Fiat currencies have no tangible backing, such as gold or silver, except governments’ good faith and can become worthless due to hyperinflation or loss of public faith.
Pacific Group’s $95 million Greater Asian Hedge Fund, which started trading in 2001, returned 2.8 percent last year, taking the cumulative net return since its February 2000 inception to 195 percent. It suffered two down years in 2008 and 2011, according to its December 2012
