AsianInvestor's regulatory round-up, March 25

Hong Kong: Hedge fund wins legal battle with SFC
Hong Kong-based hedge fund Pacific Sun has won a long-standing court battle with the city’s Securities and Futures Commission over fund advertisments which the city’s regulator says were published without its approval.

In 2013, the SFC charged Pacific Sun and its director Andrew Mantal for having advertised its funds on its own website and through email without the regulator’s authorisation.

The regulator argued that this contravened the city’s Securities and Futures Ordinance, which requires SFC approval of advertisements issued to the public. But the defendants argued that they only intended to sell the fund to professional investors, and so the advertisements did not require authorisation; last Friday, the Court of Final Appeal ruled that they were correct.