579 managers run $1 billion or more in hedge fund assets
A year of strong fund performance and investor inflows across most strategies drove the assets managed by billion dollar hedge fund firms to a record $4 trillion high by the end of 2025.
In what was the best year for hedge fund performance since 2020, firms managing more than $1 billion in hedge fund assets averaged double-digit annual growth across all main strategies.
Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management was the standout gainer, adding more than $50 billion in hedge fund AuM in 2025 to find itself atop the Billion Dollar Club (BDC), displacing Bridgewater for the first time since the ranking started in 2009.
AQR delivered stellar returns across a range of strategies. Its market-neutral Adaptive Equities strategy was up 24.4% in 2025, the multi-strategy Apex fund was up 19.6%, alternative trend following Helix fund was up 18.6%, long/short equity fund Delphi was up 16.8%, according to sources familiar with the figures.
The firm is also understood to have received significant net inflows across several of its strategies, with sources adding that both institutional and wealth channels generated positive flows throughout the year.
Bridgewater, meanwhile, also continued to grow in 2025 via strong performance in its flagship Pure Alpha fund, according to sources. The past two years of strong performance has come after the firm’s strategy overhaul in 2023 led by CEO Nir Bar Dea.
Bridgewater is understood to have restricted new inflows into its flagship fund and returned some assets to clients as a way to increase the likelihood of outperformance and diversify investment opportunities.
Also adding $10 billion or more in hedge fund AuM last year were a slew of multi-strategy funds, including Millennium Management, DE Shaw and Qube Research & Technologies.
The hedge fund assets of 579 managers in the latest BDC ranking rose by more than 19% YoY to $4.05 trillion. The number of BDC managers increased by 46 from the 533 firms that managed more than $1 billion in hedge fund AuM at the end of 2024.
Hedge fund assets held by the BDC firms ticked up to represent around 88% of the estimated $4.6 trillion global hedge fund industry, according to our latest estimates.
Performance was the key driver of growth in 2025. The overall global hedge fund industry returned nearly 12% in 2025, which was its strongest overall year since 2020.
By strategy, equity funds in particular led the way with some of their best numbers since the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. Global and emerging markets macro funds also recorded some of their best annual showings amid a backdrop of market volatility.
Long/short equity funds run by BDC firms such as Maverick, Whale Rock, and Soroban, and macro funds from Bridgewater, Discovery, Element, Kirkoswald, Rokos Capital were all up over 20%.
In addition to AQR nearly doubling its hedge fund AuM over the last 12 months, several of the largest mega-managers also saw a significant increase in AuM, including multi-strategy firms DE Shaw, Qube Research & Technologies and Wellington Management.
Meanwhile, firms such as equity shops Select Equity Group and Whale Rock as well as activist shop Starboard Value saw more than $1 billion decline in hedge fund AuM over the last 12 months.
A handful of BDC firms announced they were returning client assets towards the end of the year, including 2024 entrants Eisler Capital and Candlestick Capital. Other previous BDC entrants to announce unwindings include Indaba Capital, Kodai Capital Management and Fir Tree Partners.
In addition to strong performance, hedge fund allocators provided a significant boost throughout 2025 with 10 positive months of net flows for the year, according to our data.
Hedge funds took in an estimated $47 billion in net capital inflows in 2025, the first full year of positive net flows since 2022. Long/short equity hedge funds saw the largest positive swing in allocations, while CTAs saw net outflows on the heels of weakened performance at the start of 2025.
The data shows an increasing barbell effect and middle-market squeeze, with asset concentration increasingly shifting toward the largest managers.
The aggregate assets of firms running more than $10 billion in hedge fund AuM grew more than 28% than the same segment at the end of 2024, reflecting how several of the largest mega managers continued to take in new capital.
There were also YoY increases for both the $5 billion – $10 billion and the $1 billion – $3 billion brackets, with a $60 billion decrease in aggregate assets managed by those in $3 billion – $5 billion range.
While $10+ billion BDC firms have expanded their share of BDC assets from 54% to 60% since 2021, mid-sized managers—particularly those in the $3 billion – $5 billion range—have lost ground, with their share of BDC assets declining from 12% to 9%. The size of assets held by smaller BDC firms remains relatively stable.
Just under four in five BDC firms grew hedge fund assets over the year, with all primary strategies bar managed futures seeing a significant increase in assets managed. Assets of quant-focused hedge funds grew on average 30% year over year, followed closely by event-driven (21%), credit (21%), multi-strategy (20%) and equity (19%).
We have reported a notable uptick in investors interested in multi-strategy and event-driven strategies.
Multi-strategy BDC funds had overtaken equity-focused hedge funds in terms of asset growth over H1 but equity funds ended the year with higher annual dollar growth and remain the largest BDC segment at just over $1 trillion.
Geographically, several Paris-based firms continued to see strong growth in 2025 led by DNCA Finance, which became the largest non-UK headquarted BDC manager in Europe, overtaking quant firm CFM.
Sir Chris Hohn’s TCI Fund Management also overtook Man Group as the largest non-USheadquartered firm in hedge fund AuM. London-based managers were the primary driver of Europe’s hedge fund AuM growth in 2025, contributing 71% of the region’s increase.
There was also notable Apac-headquartered growth last year, with Australia-based equity firm L1 Capital and credit-focused Realm Investments both nearly doubling assets managed.
HHLR Advisors remain the largest Apac-based manager in hedge fund assets, ahead of Hong Kong-based Symmetry Investments and Aspex Management.
New York remains the world’s billion-dollar hedge fund hub, with 171 firms managing more than $1.3 trillion in hedge fund assets having their headquarters in the state. London comfortably is the second-largest hub by number of firms and assets, running around $671 billion across 92 firms.
Connecticut-based firms saw the most net asset growth by US state, with a 25% increase in AuM.
