At least 83 American hedge funds shut last year, according to a survey by Absolute Return magazine (via Business Week). While the collapse of Amaranth Advisors — which managed $9.1bn at its peak — grabbed most of the headlines, a further eight funds that once oversaw $1bn or more also closed down during 2006.
Those folding included: Archeus Capital Management’s Animi Master Fund, which oversaw $2.65bn at its peak; another run by Sagamore Hill Capital, which once held about $2.6bn; and Saranac Capital’s Citigroup Multistrategy Arbitrage, which topped out at $2.2bn.
That compares with 2005 when none of the funds to shut down ever had $1bn in assets, the survey noted. And even last year most of the funds that closed were small, with half never even reaching $50m.