By Anastasia Donde
The financial crisis and scandals of 2008 continued to take a toll on hedge funds in 2009, as some of the best-known managers called it quits last year. And many of the walking wounded-managers who suffered big blows in 2008 but managed to hobble into 2009-finally collapsed before the year's end. That pushed 2009's death toll close to 2008, when heavy losses and huge redemptions roiled the industry. Some 189 US hedge funds shut down in 2009, compared with the 200 US hedge funds that closed their doors the previous year.
The amount of money 2009's largest shuttered funds managed at their peak was a record $87 billion—up $3 billion from 2008's tally. That's probably because the death toll in 2009 included such legendary names as Atticus Capital, Cantillon Capital Management, Fairfield Greenwich Group, Galleon Group, Pequot Capital Management and Raptor Capital Management.
But any failed...