Equity-related strategies, which once dominated the hedge fund industry, are losing their grip as multi-asset class and fixed-income related strategies gain in popularity, according to a study by m.a.partners. Hedge Fund Research found that five years ago equity-related fund accounted to 63.6% of global HF assets. In contrast, by the end of this year, says m.a.partners’ Richard Spencer, multi-asset and fixed-income should account for half of the total assets. One reason for the shift, says Morgan Stanley’s James Vinci in a Financial Times interview, is the rise of derivative products. “Credit default swaps and other products have made capital structure arbitrage a lot easier,” Vince told the FT. “You can now expand your fundamental view of a company into all securities markets. The advantage, of course, is that multi-strategy gives hedge funds some wiggle room when any given strategy is down. On the other hand, hedge fund analysts say multi-strategy just makes it more difficult for investors to comprehend how they’re making money. That, they say, should not be a major concern since a large number of hedge funds moving into multi-strategy are large, well-established firms.
