Launches 275 hedge fund launches, 211 liquidations in Q3-12

New hedge fund launches and liquidations maintained the pace of recent quarters in 3Q12 despite the overhang of macroeconomic risks, political uncertainties and anticipated regulatory changes, according to data released by Hedge Fund Research (HFR), a provider of indexation, research and analysis for the global hedge fund industry.

Hedge fund launches totalled 275 in 3Q12, an increase from 245 in the prior quarter, bringing total launches in the trailing 12 months to 1,094 funds, slightly below the 2011 launch total of 1,113 fund openings.

Hedge fund liquidations increased to 211 in 3Q12, an uptick from the 192 liquidations in 2Q12, bringing total liquidations to 825 in the trailing 12 months, slightly ahead of the 2011 total of 775 fund closings.

Concurrent with total hedge fund industry assets reaching a record level of $2.2 trillion, the total number of singlemanager hedge funds also reached a record level of 7,867 funds in 3Q12. However, in contrast to this trend, and indicative of an increased propensity for investors to invest directly into hedge funds, the total number of Funds of Hedge Funds (FOF) in existence declined to fewer than 1,900, a level not seen since 1Q05.

Launches in both Macro and Relative Value Arbitrage (RV) strategies exceeded launches in Equity Hedge for the first time in 3Q12, with over 100 new Macro funds and over 70 new RV funds launching in 3Q12, compared to 60 launches in Equity Hedge.

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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.