BlackRock’s $27.7 billion hedge fund business sits within the money manager’s alternatives platform, which managed $129 billion in assets at the end of the year. The alternatives unit, which also offers other strategies like private equity, infrastructure and credit, expanded assets by about 11 percent from the year prior.
Among BlackRock’s biggest winners in terms of performance last year was a hedge fund that bets on and against stocks in European companies, the documents show. It gained almost 22 percent last year. The pool, run by Alister Hibbert and Michael Constantis, saw assets increase by 43 percent to $3 billion.
By contrast, BlackRock’s quant-focused fund that bets on and against stocks of Asia-Pacific companies declined 13 percent last year. The fund, run by Jeff Shen, who also co-manages the firm’s quant group, saw assets decline 85 percent to $85 million as of the end of December.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.