JPMorgan retains top spot as assets of 246 largest firms near $1.5 trillion:
Highbridge, Paulson double; Cerberus falls from top 10
By Josh Friedlander
Hedge funds have been raking it in. During the first half of 2007 - just before the summer market volatility that wreaked havoc on a few of the biggest and most prestigious hedge funds - the industry was raising more money than ever before. The Absolute Return Billion Dollar Club, our biannual survey of U.S. hedge fund assets, lists firms, each managing more than $1 billion, that held a combined total of $1.457 trillion as of July 1. Since January, these firms have increased assets by nearly $273 billion - more than double their six-month gain over the same period last year and greater than any six-month increase since we began tracking industry assets in 2002.
The biggest fund was also the biggest fundraiser - an...