The 2008 PerTrac Hedge Fund Database Study has revealed a 1.3% drop in the number of hedge funds and funds of hedge funds since 2007.
The study found a total of approximately 22,350 distinct investment vehicles among the databases at the end of 2008.
Although the hedge fund industry remains larger than many published estimates have asserted, it was definitely adversely impacted by 2008s difficult market conditions, said Meredith Jones, managing director of PerTrac. Our research reveals 1.3% fewer funds among the 11 databases in our study versus one year earlier, the first-ever year-over-year decrease in funds weve seen since we began producing our annual study in 2003.
The number of both single-manager hedge funds and funds of funds fell last year, dropping by 0.5% and 3%, respectively, Jones added. The decline in total fund managers combined with poor average performance and high redemption rates took its toll on hedge fund assets under management as well. While the total number of funds showed a perhaps surprisingly small decrease, reported assets among single-manager hedge funds declined a marked 36.1% between year-end 2007 and 2008, down to $1.33 trillion.
Key Findings of the 2008 PerTrac Hedge Fund Database StudyThe 2008 PerTrac Hedge Fund Database Study found a total of over 56,000 investment records across all databases, including both single-manager hedge funds and funds of hedge funds (FOFs). Records are the total number of funds and fund classes in all databases, including all duplicate records.
Within the overall collection of more than 56,000 records, the PerTrac Analytical Platform revealed approximately 22,350 distinct hedge funds and fund of funds among the various hedge fund databases, once duplicate records were removed. This figure counts individual share classes within funds as distinct investments.
Other key findings include:– Approximately 20,200 distinct funds reported performance data in 2008.
– Approximately 15,150 single-manager hedge funds were identified, and approximately 7,200 FOFs were identified. This compares with 15,250 single- manager hedge funds and 7,400 FOFs identified in the 2007 study.
– Just under 5,350 distinct fund management companies (e.g., general partners) were counted. Related fund management companies (subsidiaries, etc.), where identifiable as such, were counted as a single fund company.
– Of the 15,150 single-manager hedge funds, approximately 13,450 reported performance in 2008. Of those, approximately 28% were U.S. domiciled funds and 72% were non-U.S. domiciled.
– Approximately 6,750 FOFs reported performance in 2008. Of those, approximately 13% were U.S. domiciled while 87% were non-U.S. domiciled.
– The number of U.S. domiciled funds dropped by 15.8% in 2008, while the number of offshore domiciled funds grew by approximately 5.1%.
– Approximately 9,200 (61%) of the single-manager funds appear to be clones of another fund, meaning that they trade pari passu, either as offshore funds, super-accredited (3(c)7) funds or separate share classes (usually differing in currency denomination) of a single fund strategy.