NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - April 21, 2009) - "Alpha" (
www.alphamagazine.com) released the
results of the 2009 Hedge Fund 100, the magazine's eighth annual ranking of
the world's biggest single-manager hedge fund firms. Although most hedge
fund managers in 2008 couldn't escape the carnage from what many have
called the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, their
industry overall lost less money than did other investors. For their part,
the firms in the Hedge Fund 100 managed a combined $1.03 trillion in assets
at the beginning of this year, down from the record $1.35 trillion that the
world's 100 largest firms managed at the end of 2007.
Bridgewater Associates leads the Hedge Fund 100 with $38.6 billion in
assets under management. The Westport, Connecticut-based firm, which was
founded by Raymond Dalio more than 30 years ago, grew by more than $2
billion in assets last year, based on the strength of its Pure Alpha
Strategy hedge fund, which was up 8.7 percent in 2008. New York-based
JPMorgan -- the world's biggest hedge fund firm a year ago -- saw its
assets fall 26.4 percent, to $32.9 billion, in large part because of
redemptions and poor investment performance at its Highbridge Capital
Management group.
Redemptions have been a challenge for most hedge fund firms, even those
that managed to deliver positive returns in 2008, as investors have looked
to raise cash where they can. In the fourth quarter of last year, hedge
funds saw a net outflow of $152 billion, with most of the assets coming out
of bigger firms. In recognition of this new reality, "Alpha" changed the
methodology for the Hedge Fund 100, using firm and fund asset totals as of
January 1, 2009 (in the past the magazine collected December 31 data). To
qualify for "Alpha's" 2009 Hedge Fund 100, a firm needed at least $4
billion in assets under management, compared with the $6.25 billion minimum
a year ago.
The ten biggest hedge funds managed a combined $264 billion at the start of
2009, down nearly 12 percent from year-end 2007.
"Alpha's" Hedge Fund 100 Top 10
Rank Firm Total Capital ($ millions)
1 Bridgewater Associates 38,600
2 JPMorgan Asset Management 32,893
3 Paulson & Co. 29,000
4 D.E. Shaw & Co. 28,600
5 Brevan Howard Asset Management 26,840
6 Man Investments 24,400
7 Och-Ziff Capital Management Group 22,100
8 Soros Fund Management 21,000
9 Goldman Sachs Asset Management 20,585
10 Farallon Capital Management 20,000
10 Renaissance Technologies Corp. 20,000
To view the complete rankings for the Hedge Fund 100, visit
www.alphamagazine.com.
About "Alpha" Magazine
"Alpha" is the world's leading publication covering the hedge fund
industry. Through a combination of thorough analyses, sharp profiles and
in-depth investigations, "Alpha" has kept pace with and laid bare the inner
workings of this complex,
ever-changing world. A sister publication to "Institutional Investor,"
"Alpha" magazine reaches a broad range of financial services professionals.
Readers include hedge fund managers, bankers, chief investment officers at
pension funds, regulators and government officials. For more information,
visit
www.alphamagazine.com.
Contact Information: Contact:
Michael Peltz
Executive Editor, 'Alpha' magazine
212-224-3152
mpeltz@iimagazine.com