14.5% Rise In HF Database Reports

03-05-2008 | Source: Hedge Fund Daily

The number of hedge funds and funds of hedge funds that report to HF databases has climbed 14.5% since the last study in 2006, according to PerTrac Financial Solutions. The software company reports that the number of single-manger HFs reporting is up 11%, while FOHFs increased by 21%--meaning that “alternative investment industry participants are able to access more performance, strategy and fund information than ever before,” says PerTrac managing director Meredith Jones. Single-manager funds in the database accounted for roughly $2.1 trillion in assets, with 350 HFs passing the $1 billion mark, up from 250 last year. That means, according to PerTrac, the largest hedge funds now manage $950 billion, nearing half of the global hedge fund industry. The study also found:

• More than 40% of single-manager funds continued to manage less than $25 million.
• Among the single-manager HFs reporting, 34% were onshore, 66% were offshore.
• Funds of hedge funds accounted for $980 billion in asset flows, with more than one-third of FOHFs managing less than $25 million each.
• Only one hedge fund surveyed reports to all 11 databases included in the PerTrac study, with few HFs or FOHFs reporting to more than two or three.
• The number of start-up HFs in 2006 dropped 26.4 % compared with 2005, while new FOHFs decreased 22.2%. (The study did not include 2007, PerTrac says, as newbies generally don’t report in their first year of operation.)