Offshore Assets Management

* JPMorgan Asset Management takes No. 1 spot in global hedge fund ranking







JPMorgan Asset Management is now the world's largest hedge fund manager, earning the No. 1 spot on Alpha magazine's just-released "2007 Hedge Fund 100" list.

JPMorgan Asset Management is now the world's largest hedge fund manager, earning the No. 1 spot on Alpha magazine's just-released "2007 Hedge Fund 100" list.

With $33 billion in hedge fund assets under management as of year-end 2006 (including $15.7 billion managed by Highbridge Capital Management, the hedge fund firm in which JPMorgan bought a majority stake in 2005), JPMorgan was dubbed the "top dog" in Alpha's annual survey and ranking of the world's 100 biggest hedge funds.

According to Alpha's May issue, the 2007 Hedge Fund 100 shows a continuing investor demand for hedge funds. Firms on the list collectively managed $1 trillion in hedge fund assets as of Dec. 31, 2006 — up 39 percent from the $270 billion managed by the 100 firms on the 2006 list.

"The growth in the hedge fund market is for real," said Jes Staley, CEO of JPMorgan Asset Management, in Alpha's May issue. "This is not a bubble."

Staley credited JPMorgan's rise to No. 1 to a successful relationship between JPMorgan's private banking business and Highbridge Capital Management.

Looking ahead, Staley predicts more growth for the hedge fund industry, particularly abroad.

"Globalization of the hedge fund industry is still in its infancy," Staley said in the article. "The major firms, including JPMorgan, are going to be much more active internationally."