Top 100 Hedge Funds Nearly Eclipse $600B, Up 26.2% over Past Year

Date: Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Author: HedgeTracker

The latest Top 100 U.S. Equity Hedge Fund list has been released, revealing that the top hedge funds’ assets increased by nearly $25 billion, or 4.3%, over the fourth quarter. During the course of 2012, the top funds saw their combined assets increase by an impressive 26.2%. In aggregate, U.S. equity assets managed by the top 100 hedge funds rose to $596 billion.

Thirteen hedge funds on the Top 100 Hedge Fund list saw their equity assets jump by more than $1 billion over the quarter. Impressively, forty-two hedge funds saw their assets jump by between $100 million and $1 billion. Leading the top gainers were Citadel Investment Group (+$10.4B), Paulson & Co. (+$3.5B) and Bridgewater Associates (+$2.38B).

Chicago-based Citadel’s huge AUM gains position it as the largest hedge fund on the list with $38.7B in assets. Renaissance Technologies sat atop the Top Hedge Fund list for more than a year after taking over the position in the third quarter of 2011. Although Renaissance slipped one spot, its assets actually increased by $1.8 billion over the course of the last quarter. Behind Citadel and Renaissance on the Top Hedge Fund list are #3 Adage Capital Partners, #4 D.E. Shaw & Co and #5 AQR Capital Management.

Not surprisingly, multi-strategy styled and long/short equity funds are dominating strategies on the list, overseeing $158B and $89B in assets, respectively. Value-focused hedge funds are responsible for managing $67B of the list’s assets, while Quant funds combined for $65B.

Notably, 15 hedge funds on the Top 100 Hedge Fund List saw their list ranking surge by 10 or more spots. Among the big risers were HBK Investments, Moore Capital Management Meritage Group and GLG Partners.