Alpha Magazine Unveils Europe's Top 50 Hedge Fund Firms

NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwire) -- 05/26/09 -- Alpha's announcement of the 2009 Europe Hedge Fund 50 shows that Europe was not immune to investor angst over hedge funds. A wave of investor withdrawals shapes the magazine's annual ranking of the 50 biggest European single-manager hedge fund firms, as total assets fell to $285 billion as of January 1, 2009, from $405 billion a year earlier, a 30 percent drop.

Europe's hedge fund business may be looking at an encouraging longer-term picture, however. The region boasts five of the world's 20 biggest hedge fund firms -- led by two London-based powerhouses, Brevan Howard Asset Management and Man Investments.

Brevan Howard's total assets surged from $21 billion at the end of 2007 to $26.8 billion when this year began, elevating the firm from third to first in Alpha's 2009 Europe Hedge Fund 50. Man Investments had a similarly strong year; its overall assets grew from $20.9 billion to $24.4 billion, lifting the firm two rungs to second place.

The two top European hedge fund firms in last year's ranking have been taken down a few notches. Barclays Global Investors falls from No. 1 to No.

3, and GLG Partners drops from No. 2 to No. 8; the firms saw their assets drop, respectively, 35 percent and 52 percent.

Alpha's Europe Hedge Fund Top 5
Rank    Firm                                Total Capital ($ millions)
1       Brevan Howard Asset Management              $26,840
2       Man Investments                              24,400
3       Barclays Global Investors                    17,000
4       BlueBay Asset Management                     16,700
5       Bluecrest Capital Management                 13,273

Click on Alpha's 2009 Europe Hedge Fund 50 to view the complete rankings of all 50 firms, as well as performance and asset size information for their funds, or visit www.alphamagazine.com.

How the Ranking Was Compiled

For Alpha's 2009 Europe Hedge Fund 50, data was gathered through questionnaires completed by hedge fund managers, supplemented by extensive Alpha staff research. We provide each manager's total assets under management as of January 1, 2009, unless otherwise indicated. Where possible, we also show assets at the individual fund level, with 2008 net returns, for the five biggest funds run by a firm.