Highland Capital Management, the Dallas-based alternative fixed income investment company, is expanding its branch network with new offices in Australia and South Korea, a report by Dow Jones Newswires reveals.

Highland, which already operates out of Singapore (besides New York and London), has over $24 billion in assets under management. The planned launch of the new branches is part of its strategy to tap the growing Asian market.

"Thirteen years ago, you had European and US investors coming into Asia after the 1997 crisis buying up cheap assets. We're thinking the same opportunity exists on the other side now and we work with a lot investors in the region and hope to translate this current distressed opportunity into effective returns for them over the next two to three years," Paul Adkins, the managing director for Highland Capital, was quoted as having said in an interview.

Around 20 per cent of the firm's investors are based in Asia, the news service said, with the remainder mostly based in the US. The company is reportedly planning to build its Korea staff first and then Australia, both of which are expected to be completed within six months.