May 23 (Bloomberg) -- Makoto Haga, who became the first hedge fund manager at Nomura Holdings Inc. in 1998, will start his own asset management firm with investments among Japan's 800 largest companies.

Wing Asset Management Co., which received approval from the Financial Services Agency last week, is in talks with an overseas fund to initially manage as much as 5 billion yen ($48 million) starting in August, Haga said in an interview. The 44-year-old president of Wing declined to identify the fund.

Hedge funds worldwide gained in April as stock markets recovered amid easing concerns that the global credit crisis will slow economic growth, according to Eurekahedge, the Singapore- based researcher and publisher on hedge funds. The MSCI World Index jumped 5 percent last month, completing the best month since November 2004.

Wing Asset will target a 13 percent internal rate of return as it analyzes fundamentals and valuations for 800 large Japanese companies including Toyota Motor Corp., Haga said.

``What we are doing is looking for errors and aberrations in the stock market to find an investment opportunity,'' Haga said. ``We will exit when the market realizes the errors.''

The Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index, which tracks the performance of 2,230 funds that invest globally, rose 1.4 percent, based on preliminary figures. The index, which is down 1 percent this year, dropped 2.2 percent in March.

Haga started his career at a former unit of Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co. after graduating from Keio University in 1986. After a stint at Nomura, he joined Sumitomo Trust & Banking Co.'s STB Asset Management division as its first hedge fund manger in 2001 and managed 30 billion yen there.

To contact the reporter on this story: Takahiko Hyuga in Tokyo at thyuga@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: May 23, 2008 00:04 EDT