The hedge fund industry saw record inflows of more than $60 billion during the first quarter of 2007, bringing total assets under management to $1.568 trillion, according to new figures from Hedge Fund Research. Ken Heinz, president of HFR, said: “After a relatively quiet end to what was still a record-breaking year in 2006, investors have begun pouring money into hedge funds at a pace we have never seen before. To put the first quarter inflow into perspective, during the first three months of 2007 as much new money was invested in hedge funds as was recorded during the last six months of 2006. The trend in asset flow suggests that both individual and institutional investors are actively allocating to hedge funds.” Equity hedge led the way with a quarterly inflow of $20.4 billion while relative value arbitrage took the second spot, recording an inflow of $10.3 billion. Every major strategy tracked by HFR recorded a positive flow for the quarter. The figure for equity hedge is the largest quarterly inflow that HFR has ever recorded for a single strategy. The new figures come after a survey by Alpha Magazine shows that the combined earnings of the world’s top 25 hedge fund managers is $15 billion and that three individuals took home more than $1 billion. Jim Simons, of Renaissance Technologies received $1.7 billion, Ken Griffin, of Citadel Investment Group got $1.4 billion and Eddie Lampert, of ESL Investments earned $1.3 billion, according to Alpha.