As expected, the vast majority of these asset managers are based in the United States. Europe tops the list with the $69 billion Man Group. Note that this Man’s ranking relies more on an external growth through last october acquisition of GLG Parners rather than a strong organic growth.
Despite an overall decline in assets, there are still some quantitative asset managers in well positionned. Renaissance Technologies (19th with $17.1 billion), Winton Capital Management (15th with $ 20 billion), or Highbridge Capital Management (9th with $25 billion) are all in the top 20.
The total size of the hedge fund industry exceeded $2 trillion, helped by pension funds investments. According to Bloomberg, The largest 20 hedge funds’ assets rose 10 percent in six months, in a context of new investments primarily allocated to the "large" funds, as shown by a Hedge Fund Research’s study which estimates that 51 per cent of new investment have been allocated to funds with more than $ 5 billion in assets. HFR provided another significant qualitative data: about 70% of the increase in assets over the first quarter is linked to performances and 30% to new subscriptions.
What about the industry in France? It is not easy to provide figures. The perception of hedge funds is still very negative and long is the way, as reported in a study by Reinhold & Partners. Some players emerge as leaders: These include the $3.6 billion hedge fund Capital Fund Management exclusively focused on quantitative systematic strategies. With its recent acquisitions (AAAm and Hermitage), Nexar Capital manages roughly the same size of assets.
Bloomberg top 20 largest hedge funds
| Rank | Firm/Location | Assets under management (in billion $) |
| 1 | Man Group / London | 69.0 |
| 2 | Bridgewater Associates / Westport, CT | 62.0 |
| 3 | JPMorgan Asset Management / New York | 45.5 |
| 4 | Paulson & Co. / New York | 36.0 |
| 5 | Brevan Howard Asset Management / London | 32.3 |
| 6 | Och-Ziff Capital Management / New York | 28.7 |
| 7 | Soros Fund Management / New York | 27.0 |
| 8 | BlackRock / New York | 26.6 |
| 9 | Highbridge Capital Management / New York | 25.0 |
| 10 | BlueCrest Capital Management / London | 24.5 |
| 11 | Baupost Group / Boston | 24.0 |
| 11 | Cerberus Capital Management / New York | 24.0 |
| 13 | Angelo Gordon & Co. / New York | 23.5 |
| 14 | Farallon Capital Management / San Francisco | 21.5 |
| 15 | Winton Capital Management / London | 20.0 |
| 16 | King Street Capital Management / New York | 19.9 |
| 17 | Goldman Sachs Asset Management / New York | 19.8 |
| 18 | Canyon Partners / Los Angeles | 19.0 |
| 19 | Renaissance Technologies / East Setauket, NY | 17.1 |
| 19 | Elliott Management / New York | 17.1 |
