Growth At Top European HF's Drops By Half

Date: Thursday, August 9, 2007
Author: Hedge Fund Daily

Assets at the 10 largest hedge funds in Europe grew at a rate less than half of a year earlier, Financial News reports. The top firms managed a total of $370 billion, which represents 40% of all HF assets in Europe and 20% of global assets, but while that figure means 32% more money flowed in for the year ended June 30, that rate pales compared to the 66% in the previous 12-month period. The face of the 10 largest firms hasn’t change much, as seven of the biggies in the top two years ago are still there. Most notably missing from the list is Vega Asset Management, which in 2005 was the largest hedge fund manager globally with more than $10 billion. Vega had only an estimated $2.7 billion as of last September as a result of investor redemptions and losses, and, according to FN, returns have been “close to zero since.” The other two firms missing are CQS and BlueCrest, which were replaced with Lansdowne Partners and Marshall Wace. Leading the pack in 2007 is Man AHL with $21.5 billion AUM, followed by Barclays Global Investors ($21 billion), GLG Partners ($18.6 billion), Brevan Howard ($15.2 billion), Lansdowne ($14 billion), Marshall Wace ($13.9 billion), Sloane Robinson ($13.1 billion), Cheyne Capital ($13 billion), Gartmore ($12.1 billion) and Sinopia ($11.9 billion). Man is the oldest in the group, founded 11 years ago, and Brevan Howard and Cheyne Capital are the youngest, formed four years ago. Among the largest firms, Marshall Wace saw the greatest increase in assets, up 93%, followed by Sloane Robinson (46%), Gartmore (46%) and Brevan Howard (45%). Slowest mover was Sinopia, which added only 9%