The quarterly survey of 12 such managers in the U.S. and Europe showed that six still see event-driven strategies as delivering the best returns in the final three months of the year, and first quarter of 2008.

The same strategy, which aims to take advantage of companies involved in takeovers, mergers or bankruptcies, was favoured in the last poll.

Yet the survey of managers, who together control $141 billion (70 billion pounds) in assets, highlighted a shift away from pure takeover activity, seen as one of the main drivers of profits in July’s poll.

That has coincided with a sharp drop-off in mergers and acquisitions activity since the global credit crunch took hold in August and brought money markets nearly to a standstill.

Special situations, such as company restructurings, as well as more defensive strategies such as fixed income and global macro economic managers are coming increasingly into focus, the poll, conducted October 1-11, found.