By Nick Evans
In the global decline of hedge fund assets, Europeans have fared worse than either the much bigger U.S. industry or the smaller Asian one. European hedge fund assets have fallen by almost 40% from their peak of $575 billion in mid-2008, to about $350 billion. As in the U.S., the decline has slowed this year, with assets down about 12% since January. Still this year, the rate of decline in Europe is steeper than in either the U.S. or Asia, where assets have fallen between 4% and 5% for the same period. Since the 2008 peak, U.S. hedge funds are down 35% and Asia's assets have dropped by 38%.
Many of the biggest European losses have come among the largest groups, including GLG Partners, Marshall Wace Asset Management, The Children's Investment Fund, Polygon Investment Partners, RAB Capital and Toscafund Asset Management, all of...