It may be premature to write the epitaph for funds of hedge funds, but people in the industry are giving them a less-than-glowing prognosis after a year in which the funds have on average declined in value by 11%.
Fund-of-hedge-funds managers have historically decided who gets 40% of the hedge-fund industry’s $1.9 trillion of assets to manage, the idea being that they can more efficiently differentiate between good hedge funds and also-rans. This year, however, their track record hasn’t been good.