Hedge Funds Move Away From Distressed Debt

Distressed debt is losing ground with hedge funds as there is less and less room for price appreciation. Otherwise, hedge funds are following the same strategies and using the same asset classes as they were three years ago, according to a JPMorgan’s Global and North American Heads of Prime Brokerage Kumar Panja and John Cotronis. Although competition to attract institutional investors was putting pressure on performance fees, they found that most hedge funds were growing steadily, hiring more people, and generally optimistic about the next few years.

“The strategies employed by hedge fund respondents were fairly consistent from 2010 through 2012 with the exception of credit/distressed,” the two analysts wrote. “This decrease may reflect what hedge funds...