Funds of Hedge Funds Down 13.5% in 2009

September 4, 2009 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - The funds of hedge funds industry shrank a further 13.5% in the first half of 2009, with the previous freefall broken by relatively strong positive performance of 5.12% to the end of July.

According to the latest survey of the InvestHedge Billion Dollar Club, the largest funds of funds – those with more than $1 billion in assets under management – now control a combined amount of $613 billion in assets. The data is from the six-monthly 2009 asset flow survey carried out by InvestHedge.

If the global hedge fund industry is estimated at close to $1.7 trillion in total assets then funds of funds still allocate about 40% of that total.

“The funds of funds industry is rebounding from the crises of the last 18 months,” said Niki Natarajan, editor of InvestHedge, in a news release. “It is leaner, fitter and only those that have shown themselves to have managed the different challenges with a defined, repeatable and explainable process are set to survive and win the institutional money that is certain to come back.”

There are now 117 funds of hedge fund management companies in the InvestHedge Billion Dollar Club, with 18 leaving the rankings in the first six months of 2009, the news release said 

Over the last 18 months, since the start of the sub-prime mortgage crisis, 48 groups fell out of the rankings after shutting their businesses or the assets falling below the $1 billion level. The industry lost nearly 40% of its assets, equivalent to nearly $400 billion.

UBS Global Asset Management A&Q with total assets of $31 billion retained the top slot in the rankings. With $26.4 billion, Man Investments is now the second largest, having formally combined the assets of its RMF Investment Management, Glenwood Capital Investments and Man Global Strategies units.

Blackstone Alternative Asset Management has jumped to third place with $25 billion in assets.

 30 June 2009
 Assets $bn

UBS Global Asset Management A&Q 

31.43

Man Investments

26.4

Blackstone Alternative Asset Management

25.07

Union Bancaire Privée

23.83

HSBC Alternative Investments

22.27

Goldman Sachs Asset Management

21.4

Grosvenor Capital Management

20.3

Permal Investment Management

18.7

GAM Multi-Manager

16.1

Pacific Alternative Asset Management Co.

15.63

Total

221.14

InvestHedge

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