NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - May 12, 2014) - For the fourth consecutive year, Raymond Dalio's Bridgewater Associates is the world's largest hedge fund firm, according to the 13th annual Institutional Investor's Alpha Hedge Fund 100 ranking. The Westport, Connecticut-based firm boasts $87.1 billion under management as of the start of 2014, a 4.6 percent increase from the prior year.
Hedge fund assets continue to grow at a rapid clip, but the bulk of the money is going to a handful of the world's largest hedge fund firms, according to the Hedge Fund 100. At the start of 2014, this group managed $1.51 trillion, up almost 14 percent from early 2013, when these firms controlled $1.33 trillion.
This trend started after the financial crisis of 2008, but it shows no signs of slowing down: Over the past two years, assets of the top 100 hedge fund firms in the world have surged nearly 25 percent. The Hedge Fund 100 firms now account for more than half of total industry assets, and their share has been increasing.
"The largest firms will continue to attract the lion's share of new assets from pension plans and other institutions that need to put $50 million to $100 million to work," says Institutional Investor Editor Michael Peltz. "At the same time, several large firms have closed some of their funds to new investors."
New York-based J.P. Morgan Asset Management, which owns Highbridge Capital Management, comes in second, with $59 billion, up more than $4 billion from the previous year. Jersey-based Brevan Howard Asset Management lands at No. 3 with $40 billion in assets, unchanged over the past 12 months. New York-based Och-Ziff Capital Management Group and London's BlueCrest Capital Management round out the top five, with $36.1 billion and $32.6 billion in assets, respectively.
To view the full ranking, methodology and firm profiles, visit the 2014 Hedge Fund 100.
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