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After coming through one of the most dramatic years that markets have ever experienced in 2007, the global hedge fund industry emerged in relatively robust shape. As our extensive research reveals, derived from an analysis of our databases and industry surveys, hedge funds around the world are now managing about $2.65 trillion in assets – a very impressive leap from $2.079 billion at the start of 2007, and despite a slowdown in the rate of growth during the second half of the year. This pace of growth is even more remarkable when compared to a total worldwide asset count of $1.5 trillion only two years ago.
It is two years since we published our first special report on hedge funds in France – analysing the growth and development of Europe’s second largest hedge fund centre after the UK. Much has changed since then and there is even more evidence that the building blocks are in place for the rapid further development of this increasingly broad and robustly-based marketplace.
While still a relatively small sector within Italy’s investment universe, hedge funds are increasingly regarded as an attractive asset class that offers a viable alternative to traditional investments. Recent moves by the Italian regulatory authorities to liberalise the legal framework will create a better environment for fund managers – both Italian and foreign – to increase the number and range of hedge fund products.
Hedge funds have become ever bigger and ever more influential in the markets in recent years. Hence the task of running a major hedge fund group – all the operational aspects of it, from staffing and management structures, to technology, to risk management and controls – has increased dramatically in both scale and complexity. In this round table report some of the biggest and most sophisticated names in the European hedge fund business discuss what it takes to build a robust platform for sustainable growth.
Having passed the landmark level of $2 trillion only last January, assets under management in global hedge funds have already soared to almost $2.5 trillion, according to our latest analysis of the HedgeFund Intelligence database and our associated midyear surveys
During the two years since our last special report on Scandinavian hedge funds, the regional industry has enjoyed remarkable growth. The wide range of strategies and innovative products continue to draw domestic institutional and retail investors, while the outside investment world is increasingly waking up to the specific advantages that can be found within the individual hedge fund markets of Scandinavia.
The Singapore hedge fund industry has finally arrived. After a slow and steady build-up over the past few years, the assets of locally headquartered hedge funds managed from the city state have really taken off over the past year.
The pace of growth throughout the global hedge fund industry has been nothing less than astonishing. It seems like only yesterday that everyone marvelled at how the industry accounted for an amazing $1 trillion in assets. Yet, as our data section here reveals, for the first time, global hedge fund assets have now raced on a lot further - and soared to over $2 trillion. And there is no sign of any slowdown yet in this dramatic rate of growth.
Canadians are somewhat used to being taken for granted by the rest of the world. With a stable democracy that plays an active role in global peacekeeping, an open society that welcomes waves of immigrants from scores of developing countries and a vibrant economy that generates enough wealth to provide its citizens with one of the highest standards of living in the world, Canada never seems to pose a threat to other nations. This benign image, however, also means that Canadian developments only pop up occasionally on global radar screens.
The credit sector has been at the epicenter of innovation in the financial markets in recent years, with the rise of credit derivatives leading the way. And hedge funds have been both major beneficiaries of the new array of trading and investment tools that have been created - as well as being amongst the major drivers of the innovations.
Over the past few years, the French hedge fund industry has developed in toa much broader and more mature buisness. this evolution challenges the traditional view that has typically regarded paris as a secondary player to the substantially laregr hedge fund centres in london and New York. However important changes are transforming the local market, benefiting both managers as well as domestic and overseas investors.
In terms of assets and number of funds, the nascent South African hedge fund industry is experiencing a very dynamic period of growth. However, managers acknowledge that the market requires a wider range of strategies as well as a boost in overall capacity to cope with potentially greater flows of institutional money
As foreign investors and hedge fund groups flock to Asia, the question that is on everyone's mind is whether or not this current craze is just a temporary fad, or the start of Asia's place on the hedge fund map?