JP Morgan Chase & Co is the world’s largest hedge-fund firm by assets, according to a new report from Pensions & Investments magazine.
JP Morgan, which owns Highbridge Capital Management LLC, managed a total of $53.5 billion at the end of 2009, according to a survey that the magazine published on its Web site. Highbridge oversaw $32.5 billion and JP Morgan’s Asset Management unit had $21 billion in hedge-fund assets.
Bridgewater Associates LP, based in Westport, ranked second with $43.6 billion in hedge funds assets. It had been ranked No. 1 a year ago after dethroning JP Morgan. (See WestportNow April 23, 2009)
The magazine said Bridgewater was among the hedge fund managers that showed healthy growth during the period, rising 21 percent.
John Paulson’s Paulson & Co ranked third with $43.2 billion in assets.
Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP, out of London, and George Soros’s New York- based Soros Fund Management LLC each had $27 billion in hedge-fund assets. London-based Man Group Plc managed $25.3 billion. Boston-based Baupost Group LLC, run by Seth Klarman, had $20 billion in assets.
The 11 largest hedge funds managed a total of $316.2 billion in assets as of the end of 2009, compared with $316 billion that the top ten largest hedge firms managed at the end 2007.
The magazine said, “The flat growth disguises what clearly was a period of intense turmoil for many hedge-fund managers.”
