(August 22, 2012) – What are the most popular hedge funds among pension investment teams worldwide?
Towers Watson knows, and sent aiCIO a list. Here’s a ranking of the top 50, and the total amount of pension assets each one manages as of December 31, 2011.
1. Bridgewater Associates (US) – $47.3 billion
2. BlackRock (UK) – $14.9 billion
3. Brevan Howard (UK) – $11.5 billion
4. Angelo, Gordon & Co. (US) – $8.6 billion
5. BlueCrest Capital Management Group (UK) – $8.6 billion
6. Och-Ziff Capital Management (US) – $8.05 billion
7. AQR Capital Management (US) – $6.7 billion
8. GoldenTree Asset Management (US) – $5.7 billion
9. Beach Point Capital Management (US) – $4.89 billion
10. D. E. Shaw Group (US) – $4.32 billion
11. Nephila Capital (Bermuda) – $4.28 billion
12. PIMCO (US) – $4.24 billion
13. AHL (UK) – $4.21 billion
14. Winton Capital Management Ltd. (UK) – $4.18 billion
15. Lansdowne Partners (UK) – $4.05 billion
16. Anchorage Capital Group (US) – $3.02 billion
17. Goldman Sachs Asset Management (US) – $2.6 billion
18. GE Asset Management (US) – $2.48 billion
19. Odey Asset Management (UK) – $2.36 billion
20. UBS Global Asset Management (UK) – $2.34 billion
21. Magnetar Capital (US) – $2.2 billion
22. Omega Advisors (US) – $2 billion
23. COMAC Capital (UK) – $1.91 billion
24. Graham Capital Management (US) – $1.77 billion
25. Transtrend (The Netherlands) – $1.72 billion
26. Aspect Capital (UK) – $1.52 billion
27. HBK Capital Management (US) – $1.51 billion
28. Black River Asset Management (US) – $1.49 billion
29. New Mountain Vantage Advisors (US) – $1.47 billion
30. Gramercy (US) – $1.3 billion
31. Arrowgrass Capital Partners (Cayman Islands) – $1.29 billion
32. GLG (UK) – $1.26 billion
33. Bain Capital (US) – $1.25 billion
34. Ascend Capital (US) – $1.23 billion
35. Wellington Hedge Management (US) – $1.22 billion
36. Ivory Investment Management (US) – $1.2 billion
37. Pine River Capital Management (Cayman Islands) – $1.08 billion
38. Fir Tree Partners (US) – $1.06 billion
39. Elm Ridge Management (US) – $1 billion
40. Perry Capital (US) – $890 million
41. Mazi Capital (South Africa) – $747 million
42. Lucidus Capital Partners (UK) – $650 million
43. Knighthead Capital Management (US) – $550 million
44. Aviva Investors (UK) – $534 million
45. Ramius (US) – $483 million
46. BlueBay Asset Management (UK) – $466 million
47. Fore Research & Management (US) – $379 million
48. Highline Capital Management (US) – $378 million
49. Invesco (US) – $352 million
50. Lombard Odier Investment Management (Switzerland) – $337 million
Pension assets make up a large portion of total capital under management for the funds topping this list. Bridgewater, the world’s largest hedge fund, earns that distinction mostly thanks to pension investments. The Connecticut-based fund manages a total of $76.1 billion, 62% of which belongs to pensions. Over half (54%) of BlackRock‘s $27.6 billion in total assets come from pensions, as do one-third of Brevan Howard’s. Further down the list, a handful of other funds owe similarly high portions of their capital to pensions, including AQR (48%), Beach Point (80%), Nephila (78%), GE Asset Management (100%), and Gramercy (87%).
In total, these 50 funds manage $187.57 billion in pension assets, representing 35.8% of the funds’ total assets under management ($524.09 billion). Towers Watson compiled this list using data largely from investment managers, in addition to funds’ public financial statements and a HedgeFund Intelligence publication.