The pace of new hedge fund launches in Europe is continuing to pick up from its lowest point in the first half of 2009, but is still running at historically low levels.
The bi-annual new fund survey conducted by the EuroHedge data and research team shows that at least 58 new hedge funds launched in the first six months of this year, raising a combined $3.75 billion as at the end of June.
That compares with 47 funds raising a mere $2.1 billion in the first half of last year - which was the lowest first-half figure since 2001- and represents a rise of 80% in terms of the assets raised, although the increase in the number of funds is much lower at less than 25%.
The improvement is more marked, however, if one takes into account the number of new onshore hedge fund strategies that have been launched...