Simply put, size matters a great deal to the average institutional investor. Consider that in the past 12 months, inflows at the 10 largest hedge fund managers in Europe increased 70% to nearly $120 billion, while the 10 biggest HF managers accounted for an estimated 33% of the entire European HF industry, according to Financial News. In contrast, says FN, those hedge funds outside the top 10 saw either assets remain relatively flat or fall. ”There is a small but growing tendency for large institutional investors to avoid funds of hedge funds and invest directly with managers,” one unnamed manager told FN, adding, “It’s natural for them to rely on firms with more infrastructure that are better known, at least in the early stages. A FoHF manager said pension scheme trustees, “take comfort from brand names and solid infrastructure.” All this provides little comfort to the small firms, and perhaps to the industry. A partner at an unnamed hedge fund firm said in an FN interview that the migration to the bigs may not be a great thing: “It is not easy for someone to set up a hedge fund now, and that means experimentation is more difficult.”