J.P. Morgan Still Biggest Hedge Fund

Assets at the largest US hedge funds grew by more than a third last year, even though three of the 10 largest funds lost a combined $24bn in assets. According to the biannual survey by Absolute Return magazine.

JPMorgan retained its position as the largest US hedge fund manager, with $44.7bn under management at yearend, even though it lost $8.5bn in assets over the course of the year. The losses were mainly due to redemptions and losses from a statistical arbitrage fund.

JP Morgan has a number of hedge funds under its management, including JP Morgan Asset Management and Highbridge Capital Management

The biggest loser of 2007 was Goldman Sachs Asset Management, which fell to seventh place from second as assets dropped 27% in the second half to end the year at $29.20 billion. D.E. Shaw fell to sixth place, from third.

Goldman Sachs also lost heavily as a result of problems at quant funds that fell victim to heightened market volatility.

The second-and third-placed firms were Bridgewater Associates and Farallon Capital Management, both of which now manage $36bn in assets.

Renaissance Technologies, which took a hit in its quant funds, recovered to rise to fourth place with $34bn.

Och Ziff Capital Management, which went public last year, rose to fifth place with $33.2bn.

Not surprisingly, the biggest winner in terms of asset growth last year was Paulson and Company, which entered the top 10 for the first time after its assets soared 306 per cent last year to $29bn as a result of its early and correct bet against the US subprime mortgage sector.

CNNMoney.com