Biggest Hedge Funds By Assets Under Management April 2017

This is the April edition of my series of monthly posts on the world’s biggest hedge funds by assets under management. It is based on data available as of April 4, 2017. To keep things interesting I used a different approach to selecting the firms to include, and I included a little more granularity on the types of employees at each.

A Different Approach

This month I have taken a different approach to selecting the firms to include. A reporting advisor must file information about the profile of its customer base in Item 5 Section D. There are two subsections, in the first the firm indicates what proportion of accounts by number fall into various different customer categories e.g. individuals, high net worth individuals, banks, etc. In the second, the firm provides that same information but the proportion is by regulatory assets under management. Here is what AQR’s Item 5.D looks like (View the full filing):

AQR Customer Profile April 2017

For some reason the SEC uses different ranges for each profile! Maybe it’s an effort to protect the firms from having to disclose too much in terms of where the dollars are.

Fund vs. Manager

When we talk about a “hedge fund” it helps to be clear whether we mean the fund itself (or funds) or the hedge fund management company. The fund itself is the investment vehicle, the entity that holds the capital whose investment is directed by the hedge fund management company. The hedge fund earns the returns, the hedge fund management company earns the fees. The hedge fund is the advisory client of the hedge fund management company. The management company is the RIA and files the Form ADV. In most cases, a single hedge fund management company manages multiple hedge funds.

Picking Out the Hedge Fund Managers

One way of attacking the data is to ask the question: what customer profile do I expect a “pure” hedge fund management company to have. The simple answer is to look at the proportion of accounts or regulatory assets under management that are in the category “Pooled investment vehicles (other than investment companies)”. If the majority of accounts (76-99% or 100% radio buttons selected) or regulatory AUM (>75% radio button selected) is in that category, then the firm has a good chance of being a hedge fund management company. But there are a couple of caveats:

  • Applying these filters will include some investment strategies not typically thought of as hedge fund strategies, though they will most likely be thought of as “alternatives” such as Real Estate, Private Equity, etc. Further filtering can be applied to eliminate these firms.
  • Applying these filters will exclude some firms that are thought of as hedge fund firms – for example, AQR will be excluded. Typically this results when the firm runs separately managed accounts for institutional clients, or manages 40 Act funds.

Your Firm’s Form ADV

Check out your own firm’s Form ADV at the SEC’s Investment Advisor Public Depository website – you may be surprised at how much information is in there. Imagine how useful it would be to have all that information on your peers in a spreadsheet and to monitor how it evolves over time.

Custom Analysis

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And the world’s biggest hedge funds by assets under management – April 2017 are …

This table includes the 50 largest registered investment advisors reporting 76-99% or 100% of accounts by number or >75% regulatory AUM in the category “Pooled investment vehicles (other than investment companies)”. The groupName column shows firms with common control or ownership. Bear in mind, some of these firms may be co-advisors managing the same money. See Methodology below for more details.

Note: click column headings to sort. Use drop-down to set number of rows per page.

If you are interested in the complete data file, which includes all the firms reporting over $10bn regulatory AUM (200+ firms), use the adjacent “Request File” button. If you want the file delivered to an email address let me know (mention “Biggest Hedge Funds April 2017”) via our contact form (opens in a new tab).

The April file is no longer available. The button will deliver the current version.

groupNameOrgCRDPrimaryBusinessNameempCountadvEmpBDRepIARepSolicitorsAUM
NOMURA A110814NOMURA ASSET MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.805238009368
BRIDGEWA105129BRIDGEWATER ASSOCIATES, LP1491460000239
MILLENNI158117MILLENNIUM MANAGEMENT LLC21401200000208
SAMSUNG158319SAMSUNG ASSET MANAGEMENT COMPANY, LTD.286124000182
CITADEL148826CITADEL ADVISORS LLC14688843100153
APOLLO M143161APOLLO CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, L.P.98037113209125
PICTET A140074PICTET ASSET MANANGEMENT SA.42095007123
NIKKO AS110997NIKKO ASSET MANAGEMENT CO LTD5137600217121
VANGUARD282598VANGUARD ASSET MANAGEMENT, LIMITED19742000120
ALPINVES111128THE CARLYLE GROUP9492977055102
RENAISSA106661RENAISSANCE TECHNOLOGIES LLC30015030097
ANNALY M168122ANNALY MANAGEMENT COMPANY13658170088
ALPHADYN154176ALPHADYNE ASSET MANAGEMENT LP772100085
ALPHADYN152719ALPHADYNE ASSET MANAGEMENT PTE. LTD.401900085
PINE RIV133720PINE RIVER CAPITAL MANAGEMENT L.P.3088400083
D. E. SH108679D. E. SHAW & CO., L.P.473305580081
TPG OPPO159732TPG GLOBAL ADVISORS, LLC592226380080
KOHLBERG144533KOHLBERG KRAVIS ROBERTS & CO. L.P.618260480077
BALYASNY138111BALYASNY ASSET MANAGEMENT L.P.52128200475
EASTSPRI144603EASTSPRING INVESTMENTS (SINGAPORE) LIMITED36810600375
FIELD ST155587FIELD STREET CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLC602500063
STRATEGI107580BLACKSTONE ALTERNATIVE ASSET MANAGEMENT LP2771163001762
BLUECRES148823BLUECREST CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LIMITED0000062
STRATEGI142979BLACKSTONE REAL ESTATE ADVISORS L.P.321120190060
APG ASSE160795APG ASSET MANAGEMENT US, INC1295200059
ARES MAN130074ARES MANAGEMENT LLC825360290258
STRATEGI136979BLACKSTONE MANAGEMENT PARTNERS L.L.C.203157120057
FORTRESS129612FORTRESS INVESTMENT GROUP1082269180457
AGNC MAN161600AGNC MANAGEMENT, LLC541020057
ELLIOTT156601ELLIOTT MANAGEMENT CORPORATION39016500056
ELEMENT160309ELEMENT CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC532700056
MACQUARI139345MACQUARIE FUNDS MANAGEMENT70543100055
MOORE CA160188MOORE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LP42718000054
OZ MANAG107913OZ MANAGEMENT LP422156001152
TPG OPPO159738TPG CAPITAL ADVISORS, LLC816120052
TWO SIGM137137TWO SIGMA INVESTMENTS, LP1075730850049
TWO SIGM152254TWO SIGMA ADVISERS, LP863840049
MACKENZI110338MACKENZIE INVESTMENTS94670490149
LONE STA156078HUDSON AMERICAS L.P.52322400048
LONE STA160000LONE STAR NORTH AMERICA ACQUISITIONS, LLC292000048
CERBERUS152175CERBERUS CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, L.P.50215600048
CANDRIAM173355CANDRIAM LUXEMBOURG S.C.A.1112100047
3G CAPIT1569343G CAPITAL PARTNERS LP0000046
APOLLO M143158APOLLO MANAGEMENT, L.P.9803711320346
CAPULA I157589CAPULA INVESTMENT US LP18900046
WARBURG156945WARBURG PINCUS LLC55820800046
VIKING G132272VIKING GLOBAL INVESTORS LP1534900043
ADAGE CA160679ADAGE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, L.P.503800042
KOHLBERG146629KKR CREDIT ADVISORS (US) LLC19294120041
ALPINVES159215ALPINVEST PARTNERS B.V.1516710741
ADVENT I105673ADVENT INTERNATIONAL CORP1496400041
HARBOURV109846HARBOURVEST PARTNERS, LLC399111001041
STRATEGI137519GSO CAPITAL PARTNERS LP3341652201740
GAM INTE110670GAM INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT LIMITED3759300140
NB ALTER149822NB ALTERNATIVES ADVISERS LLC138876255240
BROOKFIE151605BROOKFIELD ASSET MANAGEMENT PIC CANADA, LP772772180040
TUDOR IN159792TUDOR INVESTMENT CORPORATION35517300040
STARWOOD110148STARWOOD CAPITAL GROUP MANAGEMENT, L.L.C.4088960039
BROOKFIE151599BROOKFIELD ASSET MANAGEMENT PIC US, LLC772772180039
GC ADVIS148687GC ADVISORS LLC2709100039
MARINER124744MARINER INVESTMENT GROUP, LLC15180100838
ANGELO,131940ANGELO, GORDON & CO., L.P.33113100138
GARDA CA282439GARDA CAPITAL PARTNERS462200037
HPS INVE282125HPS INVESTMENT PARTNERS, LLC225111002037
LANSDOWN172244LANSDOWNE PARTNERS (UK) LLP742400536
SILCHEST110987SILCHESTER INTERNATIONAL INVESTORS331200034
LONE PIN156602LONE PINE CAPITAL LLC1001800033
DISCOVER161263DISCOVERY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLC844200033
LIGHTHOU136591LIGHTHOUSE INVESTMENT PARTNERS, LLC7421021833
BAIN CAP145653BAIN CAPITAL PRIVATE EQUITY, LP507231170032
VISTA EQ156973VISTA EQUITY PARTNERS MANAGEMENT, LLC1768700032
J.P. MOR172045J.P. MORGAN ASSET MANAGEMENT62900032
PICTET A105205PICTET ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED3656600732
THE BAUP109530THE BAUPOST GROUP, L.L.C.2294700032
DAVIDSON155680DAVIDSON KEMPNER CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LP29410300031
PATHWAY108016PATHWAY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LP1244200131
GRAHAM C160925GRAHAM CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, L.P.2038600230
GLOBAL I157434GLOBAL INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT, LLC763500029
MACKENZI106631THE PUTNAM ADVISORY COMPANY, LLC250174029
NOMURA A110815NOMURA ASSET MANAGEMENT U.K. LIMITED1074200029
CAPSTONE155563CAPSTONE INVESTMENT ADVISORS, LLC943000028
STRATEGI144537GSO / BLACKSTONE DEBT FUNDS MANAGEMENT LLC3341652201928
LEXINGTO147281LEXINGTON PARTNERS L.P.797800027
FIRST ST171592FIRST STATE INVESTMENTS (UK) LIMITED3366500027
GOLDENTR112753GOLDENTREE ASSET MANAGEMENT LP22541011127
RIVERSTO130849RIVERSTONE INVESTMENT GROUP LLC7150191027
ANCHORAG135657ANCHORAGE CAPITAL GROUP, L.L.C.1806800127
BAYVIEW157053BAYVIEW ASSET MANAGEMENT, LLC27111800027
CENTERBR157359CENTERBRIDGE PARTNERS, L.P.2459100026
HBK CAPI115079HBK CAPITAL MANAGEMENT22673133025
FARALLON107322FARALLON CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, L.L.C.1676900025
HELLMAN158614HELLMAN & FRIEDMAN LLC854500025
HILLHOUS160896HILLHOUSE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LTD1184700025
POINTSTA161110POINTSTATE CAPITAL LP665300025
MUZINICH22998MUZINICH & CO., INC.6227270325
GROSVENO108654GROSVENOR CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, L.P.28173910725
BNP PARI160817BNP PARIBAS INVESTMENT PARTNERS UK LTD1756400024
ASB CAPI110995ASB CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLC7035016424
GROSVENO169155GCM CUSTOMIZED FUND INVESTMENT GROUP, L.P.11140310324
TIGER GL160318TIGER GLOBAL MANAGEMENT, LLC873900024
groupName: Short name to group affiliates
OrgCRD: Firm's CRD number
PrimaryBusinessName: Firm's name
empCount: Number of non-clerical employees
advEmp: Number of advisory employees
BDRep: Number of broker dealer representatives
IARep: Number of investment advisor representatives
Solicitors: Number of outside firms/persons soliciting funds
AUM: Discretionary regulatory assets under management ($bn)

Contact me to discuss customized reports and analysis.

Methodology

RSelenium

In order to complete the research for this post, I made use of a script in R using the RSelenium package. I have previously published a post about how to set up RSelenium using the latest version of Selenium, and an earlier post reviewing some of the most useful functions in the package. This package makes it possible to automate the collection of data from websites; the process is called web-scraping.

Regulatory Assets Under Management

I use Item 5.F.2.(a) discretionary regulatory assets under management to define the biggest hedge fund managers. This is NOT the number typically used in the various “biggest” lists, which is client asssets, or fee base. The SEC defines regulatory assets under management as the total of all securities (including cash and equivalents) in all the portfolios managed by the firm (without double-counting in the case of complex structures). The number is NOT net of borrowings, or short positions. Futures contracts are NOT securities, so they are not included in any portfolio, though the margin cash is. As a consequence, managers employing materially different approaches are not directly comparable in terms of regulatory AUM.

Hedge Fund Filter

I use Item 5.D.1.(f) to find the proportion of the manager’s client accounts that are pooled investment vehicles (other than investment companies). I assume a value of either 76 – 99% or 100% indicates the firm is a hedge fund manager. I use Item 5.D.2.(f) to find the proportion of the manager’s regulatory AUM that are in pooled investment vehicles (other than investment companies). I assume a value of >75% indicates the firm is a hedge fund manager. To be included, a manager had to meet either of these criteria.

Affiliated Groups

Schedule D. Item 7.A of Form ADV includes a list of firms affiliated with the filing firm. An affiliate is a firm that shares some kind of ownership connection with the filing firm. Since the filing firm includes the CRD Number of each affiliate, if it is registered, I was able to cross-check the list of firms to see if it was already included. I assigned each of these firms the same group name.

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