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Reuters – Some of the world’s biggest hedge funds suffered a dramatic drop in assets in the first half of 2008 as financial markets tumbled and many investors asked for their money back, according to a survey released on Monday.
Renaissance Technologies, which runs one of the world’s most successful hedge funds that also charges some of the world’s highest fees, saw assets under management shrink by 14.71 percent during the first six months of the year. The firm, run by former mathematics professor Jim Simons, managed $29 billion at the end of June, according to a survey conducted by magazine Absolute Return.
While total assets may have shrunk, its $8 billion Medallion fund soared 48 percent at the end of July, net of fees, the New York Post reported, citing people familiar with the returns.
Farallon Capital Management’s assets declined 8.3 percent to $33 billion, and Goldman Sachs Asset Management saw assets fall 7.9 percent to $26.9 billion.
Reuters India – Goldman Sachs said it has regulatory approval to launch mutual funds in India, Asia’s third-largest economy, joining the likes of AIG, JPMorgan and South Korea’s Mirae Asset who have started operations in the past 18 months.
Adam Broder will be the chief executive of Goldman Sachs Asset Management Company (India) and Prashant Khemka will be chief investment officer, the firm said in a statement on Monday.
"India is one of the most important countries to our Asian business and we have a long-term strategic commitment to this market," Broder said.
India’s 35 member funds industry managed about 5.4 trillion rupees at the end of July, data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India showed.
While the industry has been hit by a fall of about 30 percent in the Indian stock market this year, Boston Consulting Group has forecast assets could more than quadruple by 2015.
New York, July 8, 2008 — The Absolute Return New Funds Survey, published in the July/August issue of Absolute Return magazine, shows that new hedge fund launches this year in the Americas totaled $19.5 billion, with the top five funds amassing $13.7 billion, for more than 70% of the total. The number of fund launches is down 50% from last year, highlighting the growing barriers to entry for start-up managers and indicating that large capital flows are continuing to go to established, brand-name firms.
According to Absolute Return, 35 new funds began trading with a total of $19.5 billion between January 1 and June 30, 2008. That’s significantly more capital than in the same period in 2007, when 72 new funds launched with $14 billion. This year, five funds were formed with more than $1 billion each, in contrast to three funds that managed to surpass the billion-dollar mark in last year’s first half. Long/short equity funds dominated, followed by funds that invest in mortgaged-backed securities and those pursuing distressed strategies.
The survey also reported that Goldman Sachs Asset Management amassed $8.1 billion of the $19.5 billion total with $7 billion in its Goldman Sachs Investment Partners, an equity long/short fund, and $1.1 billion in Goldman Mortgage Credit Opportunities. The second-largest launch was Conatus Capital Management’s Conatus Capital Partners fund, which had $2.3 billion. Other sizeable launches included Lone Pine Capital’s $1.8 billion emerging markets fund, Lone Dragon Pine Fund, and Highliner Investment Group’s Alyeska Fund, a market-neutral fund that ended the first half with $1.5 billion.
Total assets under management in the hedge fund industry are $2.65 trillion, according to HedgeFund Intelligence.
About Absolute Return
Absolute Return is the leading source of U.S. hedge fund news and information featuring proprietary data and analysis on more than 3,000 single-manager hedge funds in the Americas. Absolute Return, a monthly magazine, and the Absolute Return Directory and Database, are divisions of HedgeFund Intelligence, a global provider of hedge fund news and data. For more information, please visit www.hedgefundintelligence.com/ar/
