New Hedge Fund Launches total Record $19.5 Billion in First Half 2008


Date: Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Author: Absolute Return Survey

New York, July 8, 2008 – The Absolute Return New Funds Survey, published in the July/August issue of Absolute Return magazine, shows that new hedge fund launches this year in the Americas totaled $19.5 billion, with the top five funds amassing $13.7 billion, for more than 70% of the total. The number of fund launches is down 50% from last year, highlighting the growing barriers to entry for start-up managers and indicating that large capital flows are continuing to go to established, brand-name firms.

 

According to Absolute Return, 35 new funds began trading with a total of $19.5 billion between January 1 and June 30, 2008. That’s significantly more capital than in the same period in 2007, when 72 new funds launched with $14 billion. This year, five funds were formed with more than $1 billion each, in contrast to three funds that managed to surpass the billion-dollar mark in last year’s first half. Long/short equity funds dominated, followed by funds that invest in mortgaged-backed securities and those pursuing distressed strategies.

 

The survey also reported that Goldman Sachs Asset Management amassed $8.1 billion of the $19.5 billion total with $7 billion in its Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, an equity long/short fund, and $1.1 billion in Goldman Mortgage Credit Opportunities. The second-largest launch was Conatus Capital Management’s Conatus Capital Partners fund, which had $2.3 billion. Other sizeable launches included Lone Pine Capital’s $1.8 billion emerging markets fund, Lone Dragon Pine Fund, and Highliner Investment Group’s Alyeska Fund, a market-neutral fund that ended the first half with $1.5 billion. 

 

Total assets under management in the hedge fund industry are $2.65 trillion, according to HedgeFund Intelligence.

 

 

About Absolute Return

Absolute Return is the leading source of U.S. hedge fund news and information featuring proprietary data and analysis on more than 3,000 single-manager hedge funds in the Americas. Absolute Return, a monthly magazine, and the Absolute Return Directory and Database, are divisions of HedgeFund Intelligence, a global provider of hedge fund news and data.  For more information, please visit www.hedgefundintelligence.com/ar/.

 

TOP TEN HEDGE FUND LAUNCHES (January - June 2008)

Firm name

Fund name

Portfolio manager(s)

Strategy

AUM ($m)

Location

Goldman Sachs

GS Investment Partners

Raanan Agus, Kenneth Eberts

Equities

7,000*

New York, NY

Conatus Capital Management

Conatus Capital Partners

David Stemerman

Equities

2,300

Greenwich, CT

Lone Pine Capital

Lone Dragon Pine

Steve Mandel

Emerging Markets

1,840

Greenwich, CT

Highliner Investment Group

Alyeska Fund

Anand Parekh

Equities

1,500

Chicago, IL

Goldman Sachs

Goldman Mortgage Credit Opportunities Fund

Jonathan Beinner, James Clark, Thomas Teles

Mortgage Backed Securities

1,100*

New York, NY

SIR Capital Management

Standard Investment Research Hedge Equity Master Fund

Vince Maddi, Shawn Brennan

Equities

700

New York, NY

Bellman Walter Capital

Bellman Walter Global Fund

Rich Walter, Jeffrey Bellman

Equities

650

San Francisco, CA

KnightHead Capital Management

Knighthead Master Fund

Ara Cohen, Tom Wagner

Distresssed

500

New York, NY

Obrem Capital Management

Obrem Capital

Andrew Rechtschaffen

Equities

500

New York, NY

One William Street Capital

One William Street Capital Master Fund

David Sherr

Credit

500*

New York, NY