Hedge Fund Assets Top '08 Levels

More than six years after the advent of the financial crisis, the world's hedge funds have at last recouped their lost assets.

Hedge fund industry assets hit a new record in November, totaling $1.97 trillion, according to Eurekahedge. That figure surpasses the previous record of $1.95 trillion set in June 2008, as the crisis really began to squeeze the hedge fund industry.

Hedge funds would go on to lose an average of almost 20% that year, but have since posted steady, if unspectacular, returns—the average fund returned 1.37% last month, according to Eureka, about half the 2.8% achieved by the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. Those returns, however, have combined with a renewed appetite among investors for hedge funds; net inflows have been $122.2 billion, about half of which has gone to North American managers.