Alpha Magazine Announces 2009 Hedge Fund 100

"Alpha" released the results of the 2009 Hedge Fund 100, the magazine's eighth annual ranking of the world's biggest single-manager hedge fund firms. Although most hedge fund managers in 2008 couldn't escape the carnage from what many have called the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, their industry overall lost less money than did other investors. For their part, the firms in the Hedge Fund 100 managed a combined $1.03 trillion in assets at the beginning of this year, down from the record $1.35 trillion that the world's 100 largest firms managed at the end of 2007.

Bridgewater Associates leads the Hedge Fund 100 with $38.6 billion in assets under management. The Westport, Connecticut-based firm, which was founded by Raymond Dalio more than 30 years ago, grew by more than $2 billion in assets last year, based on the strength of its Pure Alpha Strategy hedge fund, which was up 8.7 percent in 2008. New York-based JPMorgan -- the world's biggest hedge fund firm a year ago -- saw its assets fall 26.4 percent, to $32.9 billion, in large part because of redemptions and poor investment performance at its Highbridge Capital Management group.

Redemptions have been a challenge for most hedge fund firms, even those that managed to deliver positive returns in 2008, as investors have looked to raise cash where they can. In the fourth quarter of last year, hedge funds saw a net outflow of $152 billion, with most of the assets coming out of bigger firms. In recognition of this new reality, "Alpha" changed the methodology for the Hedge Fund 100, using firm and fund asset totals as of January 1, 2009 (in the past the magazine collected December 31 data). To qualify for "Alpha's" 2009 Hedge Fund 100, a firm needed at least $4 billion in assets under management, compared with the $6.25 billion minimum a year ago.

The ten biggest hedge funds managed a combined $264 billion at the start of 2009, down nearly 12 percent from year-end 2007.

"Alpha's" Hedge Fund 100 Top 10

Rank Firm Total Capital ($ millions)
1 Bridgewater Associates 38,600
2 JPMorgan Asset Management 32,893
3 Paulson & Co. 29,000
4 D.E. Shaw & Co. 28,600
5 Brevan Howard Asset Management 26,840
6 Man Investments 24,400
7 Och-Ziff Capital Management Group 22,100
8 Soros Fund Management 21,000
9 Goldman Sachs Asset Management 20,585
10 Farallon Capital Management 20,000
10 Renaissance Technologies Corp. 20,000
To view the complete rankings for the Hedge Fund 100, visit www.alphamagazine.com