LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) – A wave of mergers and acquisitions could sweep the fund management industry this year as players come under pressure from the market turmoil, said speakers at the Reuters Funds Summit.

One leading hedge fund manager added that the consolidation could lead to the disappearance of half of the current hedge fund players.

"I would say that if half had to close, I wouldn’t be surprised," said Ken Kinsey-Quick, head of multi-manager products at London-based hedge fund Thames River Capital LLP.

"The consolidation is happening right now. By summer it will be done and dusted. Those that are going to be around, it will be pretty clear in June who those will be," he added.

Both hedge funds and more mainstream fund management companies have faced having to merge or be taken over due to the effects of the financial crisis, which has led to massive withdrawals of clients’ money.

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Tags: consolidation, disappearance, financial crisis, fund management companies, fund management industry, hedge-fund-manager, kinsey, london, luxembourg, market turmoil, massive withdrawals, mergers and acquisitions, money, reuters, speakers, summit, thames river capital

Reuters – Edward Bonham Carter, chief executive of Jupiter Asset Management, is to stop running his Undervalued Assets fund after threatening last year to hand over the role if performance did not improve.

New hire Patrick Harrington, who joined Jupiter last week, will take over management of the fund at the end of the month, Jupiter said in a note on Monday.

Bonham Carter, a well-known figure in the fund management industry, has beaten the market and rival funds since he began running the fund eight years ago, but in more recent years performance has flagged.

Over the past five years the 122 million-pound fund has fallen 12.2 percent, while the average peer fund is down 4.3 percent and the FTSE All-Share index has risen 2.4 percent.

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Tags: asset-management, assets, bonham carter, chief-executive, ftse, fund management industry, harrington, jupiter, reuters, share-index