Assets in the hedge fund industry rose nearly 4% in 2012, according to a new estimate, outpacing inflation in North America, where the majority of these assets are managed.
The estimate of $1.77 trillion (€1.33 trillion) in total hedge fund assets comes from Eurekahedge, a provider of data on alternative investments. It is lower than that given by Hedge Fund Research, another data provider, which recently put the total at $2.25 trillion for the end of 2012.
Eurekahedge claims $1.2 trillion of hedge fund assets are managed in North America and that this asset pool grew faster in 2012 than hedge fund assets in other regions.
European hedge fund assets grew less than 1% to $369 billion in 2012 while hedge fund assets in Asia excluding Japan rose 1.23% to $113 billion, says the firm.
The Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index, which tracks hedge fund performance, was up 6.19% in 2012. In contrast, the S&P 500 returned 13.4% and the MSCI World index returned 13.2% during the year.
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