Relative value funds see an uptick in launches this year

61% of all single manager hedge funds are located in the US according to a new report from US-based hedge fund research provider Preqin. The research house also said 2012 had been a solid year for fund launches across all strategies. 387 funds have launched year-to-date (to early Oct.), despite volatile market conditions and significant macroeconomic headwinds (see full Opalesque article here).

Market conditions are proving to be volatile and the European sovereign debt crisis is far from resolved, and as a result the landscape of fund launches over the past few years has shifted towards strategies which can take advantage of these uncertain times, says the Preqin report. Long/short strategies are usually the most popular and account for half of all launches. But since 2007 long/short funds fell to about 45% in 2012. As for global macro, this strategy was at its most trendy in 2009, accounting for 28% of all launches. However, it accounts for around 22% so far this year.

One strategy got a bigger slice of the cake over the past 12 months: relative value. It now represents 17% of all funds launched so far this year. The strategy has performed well over the past few years, Preqin says, and increasing demand from investors is leading to growth in this sector.

We recently heard of this ex-hedge funder striking out on his own:

Warren Ashenmil, who managed the commercial-mortgage backed securities and commercial real estate portfolio fo......................

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This article was published in Opalesque's New Managers a top-down monthly analysis, news and research publication on the global emerging manager space.