Hedge funds pursuing multi-asset class and fixed income-related trading strategies are an increasingly important segment of the industry, according to a new report from m.a.partners, an independent management consultancy.
Richard Spencer, partner at m.a.partners, expects these two categories to account for half of all hedge fund assets under management by the end of 2006. Recent estimates put the global hedge fund industry’s assets at $1,500bn.
The industry was previously dominated by equity-related strategies. According to Hedge Fund Research, global hedge fund industry assets five years ago amounted to $539bn, of which 63.6 per cent was allocated to equity-related strategies. However, as of the first quarter of 2006, HFR estimated that nearly one-third of all new assets allocated to the hedge fund industry was entering strategies that used multiple asset classes and a further 12 per cent was being allocated to pure fixed-income related strategies.
