This is not turning out to be a great year for the image of hedge funds in Germany. Funds from the US and the UK have been castigated by politicians as "locusts" devouring the assets of domestic companies, and the rhetoric could increase over the next few months if the issue is drawn into the country's general election campaign.

Germany's fledgling hedge fund industry is in the doldrums, the victim of an unfavourable economic environment, as well as inflated expectations when the government liberalised investment fund rules at the beginning of last year.