BlackRock Retains Top Spot on the II300
The S&P 500 surged some 30 percent last year, logging its highest annual gain since 1997, so it’s hardly surprising that the largest asset managers in the U.S. report significant AUM gains for 2013. Total assets in the II300, Institutional Investor’s annual ranking of the country’s top money managers, increased by $3.57 trillion, to $42.3 trillion.
The ranks of the top 15 firms are little changed from last year, with only Malvern, Pennsylvania–based Vanguard Group and Allianz Asset Management of Newport Beach, California, switching spots, to third and fourth place, respectively.
Index fund giant Vanguard is the year’s biggest gainer, in percentage terms: Its total soars by nearly 25 percent, to $2.29 trillion. In dollar terms its $444 billion increase is second only to the gain notched by the No. 1 firm, New York–based BlackRock, whose total jumps by $532.7 billion, to $4.3 trillion.
Allianz is the year’s biggest loser, in dollar terms. It owns Pacific Investment Management Co., the fixed-income manager run by Bill Gross that sustained tens of billions of dollars in net redemptions — PIMCO’s Total Return Fund alone lost a record $41.1 billion last year — after misjudging the Federal Reserve’s plans to scale back its program of quantitative easing. Allianz’s total falls by roughly $69.2 billion, to approximately $2 trillion.
The only other firm in the top 25 to report an AUM decline is the asset manager at No. 25, Federated Investors. The Pittsburgh-based firm’s total slips less than 1 percent, from $379.7 billion to $376.1 billion.
To view the complete ranking, click on “America’s Top 300 Money Managers” in the navigation table at right. Subscribers can access additional data, including details on the firms’ portfolio mixes, a roster of the Biggest Dollar Gainers and Losers, Largest Tax-Exempt Asset Managers and more.
For information on how this ranking was compiled, click on “Methodology.”
How This Ranking Was Compiled
The II300 ranks America’s largest money managers by assets under management. In conformity with the traditional view of the money management business, assets are defined as discretionary assets under management for the accounts of customers for which an organization has contractual authority to make buy and sell decisions.
Institutional Investor asks firms to report assets under management for their entire organizations — including subsidiaries. The ranking includes insurance companies, banks, investment management firms, internally managed pension funds, mutual fund firms and hedge funds. Domestic and non-U.S. equities include convertibles. American depositary receipts are included in non-U.S. equities. Domestic and non-U.S. fixed income includes preferred stock and mortgage-backed securities. Real estate includes debt and equity. Alternative investments may include derivatives, venture capital, oil and gas, timberland and hedge fund investments. Tax-exempt holdings represent assets from tax-exempt sources, such as pension funds, foundations and endowments.
All figures are through December 31 of the given year unless indicated otherwise.
The ranking was compiled by Researcher Valentina McKenzie, under the supervision of Senior Research Editor Jane B. Kenney.