Alternative Market Briefing

Global hedge fund assets increase despite lacklustre returns

Monday, October 01, 2012

Beverly Chandler, Opalesque London: Latest research from HedgeFund Intelligence finds that global hedge fund assets increased by 4% in the first half of 2012 to over $2.2 trillion (including hedge funds in a UCITS format) although they remained well below their 2007 peak. And this came against a backdrop of what the firm calls 'lacklustre returns’.

Their 1st October report finds that assets in hedge funds of traditional types, domiciled offshore or structured as limited partnerships in the US, managed total combined assets of $2.147 trillion (including where they have parallel onshore versions) at the mid-point of 2012, up about 4% from the figure of $2.059 trillion at the end of 2011. If assets held in other hedge funds in onshore European UCITS structures (with no parallel offshore versions) were added to the total, it reached $2.245 trillion, up from $2.156 trillion at the end of last year.

The report says: "The latest statistics on assets follow a period in which hedge fund returns have returned to positive territory – after a period of losses in 2011. However, they have generally lagged the performance of major equity indices including the S&P500 and MSCI World for most of the year so far". Despite this, HFI finds that the industry is continuing its steady if slow recovery from the savage drop in size th......................

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