Europe’s hedge fund industry hit record growth levels in 2005, with the launch of 330 new funds with combined assets of $28 billion, accordi...

Europe’s hedge fund industry hit record growth levels in 2005, with the launch of 330 new funds with combined assets of $28 billion, according to research by EuroHedge, a provider of financial information. The figure for 2004 was about $23 billion generated by the launch of 250 new funds. The rate of growth of assets in European hedge funds outpaced the global average because of strong returns of European equities, which outperformed their US counterparts, employing long and short strategies. A second reason for the swell was European fund managers’ skill in investing in emerging markets and Asian strategies, said EuroHedge. There were six launches of funds over $1 billion a piece, 14 with at least $500 million and 55 that raised $100 million or more, said the research. Emerging markets funds grew from $643 million in 2004 to $2.6 billion in 2005. These funds were mainly in multi-asset class or emerging currencies, rather than equities, EuroHedge said.