The biannual survey of US hedge funds shows that 241 firms, each managing more than $1bn, held a combined total of nearly $1,200bn as of January 1.
According to a new survey conducted by Absolute Return magazine, money continued to flow steadily into alternative investments last year, causing the combined assets of the largest US hedge funds to climb well above the $1,000bn mark.
That is about $215bn more than the top 218 firms were managing this past summer and $347bn more than the top 207 firms were running at the beginning of last year. The huge increases last year came in spite of hedge fund closures, including that of $9.1bn Amaranth Advisors, which erased $35bn from the market.
The biggest new launch of last year, Convexity Capital Management, joined the top-60 US hedge funds in its first year, making it the most successful hedge fund launch in history, raising $6.3bn.
The top 20 firms, which held $258bn last January, now manage nearly $386bn. There are now 29 firms that run more than $10bn, up from 16 last year, and well ahead of the 12 that managed such large huge sums in July 2005.
In the number one spot JPMorgan unseated Goldman Sachs as the world's largest manager of hedge fund assets, with $34bn under management.