UBS Finishes First in Alpha’s Ranking of the World’s Biggest Funds of Hedge Funds. UBS rises one position to the top spot in the 2007 Fund of Funds 50, Alpha’s sixth annual ranking of the world’s biggest multimanager hedge fund firms. The climb is no small feat on a list of firms whose collective assets grew to $742 billion as of June 30, 2007, up 34.8 percent from the $550 billion the top 50 controlled in 2006.
Second-ranked Man Investments of London falls out of the No. 1 position it held last year despite asset growth of more than $10 billion — that was no match for the $17 billion gain posted by Zurich-based UBS over the same period. Other big gainers include Blackstone Alternative Asset Management, the New York fund-of-hedge-funds arm of private equity giant Blackstone Group, which has seen its assets increase nearly $10 billion since last year’s ranking.
How We Compiled the Ranking The data for Alpha’s 2007 Fund of Funds 50 were gathered from questionnaires completed by the fund-of-hedge-funds firms themselves, research in the public record and extensive staff reporting. In some cases, we have included estimates based on our reporting. For each of the firms’ funds of hedge funds, we show investment capital (before leverage), returns and style. Only multimanager hedge fund portfolios are included in the asset figures. Assets are stated in millions of dollars. All data are current as of June 30, 2007, unless otherwise noted. This ranking was compiled by Research Specialist Timothy Roberts with Researcher Christian Kent-Lemon under the guidance of Director of Research Sathya Rajavelu and Senior Editor Jane B. Kenney. Inevitably, we will have overlooked some institutions that belong on our list. If we missed yours, please send an e-mail to FoF50@iimagazine.com to request a questionnaire for the 2008 ranking.