Hedgie status hit for London

Date: Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Author: John Kenchington, City A.M.

LONDON’S presence in the “billionaire’s club” of giant hedge fund managers slipped during the first half of the year while New York’s stayed the same, according to HedgeFund Intelligence (HFI).

The group said London’s level of hedge fund firms running over $1bn (£627m) in assets fell two per cent to below 15 per cent in the first half. New York’s share remained static at 47 per cent. The total number of firms running more than $1bn in assets globally was 291 at the end of June, down from 311 at the start of the year and 395 a year ago, it added.

Meanwhile, the data provider said during the first half of this year assets under the management of hedge funds around the world fell by 8.5 per cent to £1.05 trillion.

That came even though funds gained 7.2 per cent on average from growth in their assets, according to data from Credit Suisse and Tremont.

The fall in asset levels despite growth on the funds suggests investors continued to pull money out over the period amid fears over a potential further market sell-off.

But HFI said there were signs investors were beginning to put money back into hedge funds, while continued performance gains in the third quarter would also boost asset levels. “We would not be surprised to see industry assets rise... by at least 10 per cent before the end of 2009,” the firm said.

Hedge fund billionaire’s club –top players at end-july 2009
CITY/STATE    COUNTRY    NUMBER OF FIRMS    ASSETS ($BN)
New York USA                          118 642.86
London      UK 55       203.84
Connecticut     USA       29       143.84
California     USA         22    80.95
Massachusetts      USA       12       84.73
Hong Kong        Hong Kong           8        11.22
Texas    USA       7         23.61
Tokyo            Japan       5          5.29
Illinois    USA        5         26.59
Sydney        Australia    4         14.06
Total                 291    1371.31