A record number of hedge funds shut down last year, according to new research from Chicago-based hedge fund tracker Hedge Fund Research. ...

A record number of hedge funds shut down last year, according to new research from Chicago-based hedge fund tracker Hedge Fund Research. Although a record number of hedge funds were created in the year (2,073, versus the previous year's addition of 1,435) 848 hedge funds liquidated by closing their operations and returning investors' money. The record number of closures last year correlates closely with last year’s difficult trading environment for some once-popular strategies such as convertible arbitrage, among others. The closures represent around 11 per cent of the 8,500 hedge funds thought to be in existence. Hedge funds raised $47 billion from investors last year, representing a growth slow-down, according to HFR.