Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) is playing Pac-Man with hedge funds. According to a Reuters story, the firm has made five investments in hedge funds during the past five months.

The latest deal is a minority position in Abax Global Capital, based in Hong Kong. Yes, the fund will focus on the Asian markets.

True, the markets have been volatile there lately (especially with the big drop in the Chinese equities markets). Then again, hedge funds thrive on volatility. What's more, Asian markets are relatively under-presented in terms of hedge funds.

While Abax is a new fund, its key managers are veteran investors, some coming from Citadel Investment Group.

Why a minority stake? Well, that's probably the only thing offered to Morgan. Also, it is key to provide enough "skin in the game" for hedge fund managers. If they know they can get rich, they will certainly be motivated to get above-market returns. At least that's the theory.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including the Complete M&A Handbook and the EDGAR-Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Morgan Stanley takes a bite of another hedge fund originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 12 Mar 2007 13:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.