Out of Africa

History and Impact of hedge funds In the opening address of the International Investment South Africa Forum 2003, David Smith, chief investment director, multi-manager, at Global Asset Management, gave a very clear warning of the impact of history on the hedge fund world. From the foundations of the industry by a journalist, Alfred Jones, in 1949 the industry has grown to 6,000 hedge funds, managing $650bn. But if you look at the organic growth of the industry from 1989, when it had a conservatively estimated $65bn of assets, and a performance return rate of 15% a year then there has only...