Hedge Funds in Europe Grow to $683 Billion as Investors Return

(Bloomberg) -- Europe's hedge-fund industry is recovering strongly, with assets surging to 587 billion euros ($683 billion) as of March, according to industry tracker Preqin.

Investors are flocking back to the market in search of assets that can still provide a return at a time of record-low interest rates. Hedge funds boosted assets by almost 10 percent in 2017, while their gains beat benchmark European and U.K. stock indexes, Preqin said.

“Investors have certainly taken note of the region and we've seen the number of Europe-based hedge-fund investors almost double in the past decade,” said Amy Bensted, head of hedge-fund products at Preqin. “The European industry had a more successful 2017 than North America in terms of asset flows.”

The report also noted:

• Fifty-two percent of Europe-based managers saw net inflows in 2017, the highest of any region, with new investment totaling 27 billion euros
• European funds returned 9.1 percent, more than double the FTSE 100 and beating the Euro Stoxx 50
• The number of investors almost doubled to 1,101 over the past decade
• One black spot was net launch activity, with liquidations outstripping startups in 2017

To contact the reporter on this story: Suzy Waite in London at swaite8@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Neil Callanan at ncallanan@bloomberg.net, Paul Armstrong, Andrew Blackman

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