Top 200 Hedge Fund List faces Tumultuous Quarter; Big Gainers and Losers Lead the Way

Date: Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Author: HedgeTracker

HedgeTracker’s latest Top 200 U.S. Equity Hedge Fund list reveals a challenging third quarter for top 200 hedge funds with total US equity assets declining by more than $125 billion. While many top hedge funds suffered, a number of hedge funds managers were able to weather the storm quite impressively. In fact, thirteen hedge funds saw their ranking increase by more than 30 spots.

Leading the way down was John Paulson’s Paulson & Co, which saw its US equity assets fall by $8.5 billion, bringing the firm’s rank down to #3. The firm had securely retained the #1 spot for the first half of 2011. Renaissance Technologies Corporation gained the top spot in this quarter’s Top 200 Hedge Fund List, even after suffering a $2 billion drop in US equity assets.

Turnover was high on both the top and the bottom of the list, as 10% of the hedge funds from last quarter’s list were knocked out of the top 200. The biggest losers were Ascend Capital, Appaloosa Management, Partner Fund Management, Buckingham Capital Management, Alydar Capital and Perry Capital, all which fell by at least 40 spots. In addition, Clovis Capital Management (previously 118), Canyon Capital Advisors (previously 133), and Hunter Global Investors (previously 146) were all top 150 funds that did not make this quarter’s list.

Among the big gainers that moved up in the rankings was technology-focused Calvary Asset Management (63 spots), deep value-focused Elliott Management Corporation (52 spots) and event-driven Empyrean Capital Partners (44 spots). On an absolute basis, 4 managers saw US equity assets increase in excess of $500 million. These managers included Farallon Capital Management, value-focused Baupost Group, arbitrage-focused Alphabet Management LLC and JAT Capital Management.

Regionally, New York City Hedge Funds maintained their dominance as the center of the hedge fund universe with the greatest amount of assets under management (over 50%). The other major hedge fund hubs represented on the list include Greenwich/Stamford/Westport (almost $80 billion), Boston, Chicago and San Francisco. Some larger European Hedge Fund firms apparently had big appetites for US equities over the third quarter, as Jabre Capital Partners, Winton Capital Management, and Theleme Partners were all new entrants to the top 200 list.
Overall, hedge fund firms that employ a Multi-Strategy investment approach accounted for almost 20% of the top 200 hedge fund list’s assets. Other major investment styles in the top 200 include Long/Short Equity, Quantitative/Arbitrage and Value focused investors.

The top 200 hedge fund rankings are compiled on a quarterly basis using hedge fund firms’ overall U.S. equity assets under management. Beyond AUM, the top 200 Hedge Funds list also provides: investment styles, locations and contact information for all of the top hedge funds. To view the Top 200 Hedge Fund list in its entirety, please click here.