HF landscape in London

Hi everyone,

was wondering if familiar people could comment on size and activity of the London HF industry in general?

I think NYC is still the biggest HF hub in the world and London is probably second, but I've seen in a 2013 industry report that the market share (% of global AUM) of NYC has been shrinking recently, while London has been growing at the same time (though still considerably smaller than NYC).

Maybe to help quantify the situation: let's assume you have 200 skilled (read: good, not insane) IBD analysts looking to get into HF analyst roles, 100 in NYC and 100 in London - how many of the 100 would you say are likely to succeed in each city?

(My estimate would go something like NYC=60%; LDN=40%?)

Thanks in advance for any insights.

22 Comments
 

Have a look at Absolute Return magazine; they rank HFs by size on an annual basis. You'll find from this list, that the vast majority of large funds are in the USA.

 

I've read a statistic in a big4 HF report that some 70% of global HFs are in the US but not sure...

But in London, all the big PE players are present and they tend to have HF divisions too.

However, isn't London THE place to be for macro?

 

In fact I'd be more than interested in the global % split of the 3 trillion HF dollars today, so if anyone happens to know... (Still too broke to buy that Prequin report)

 

brigade, avenue, gso, oaktree, apollo, monarch, york, svp, canyon, anchorage, centerbridge, davidson kempner, fortress, lone star, oak hill, angelo gordon, king street

just to name a few, pretty broad universe, some of them do distressed, some more PE, some HY and CLO's etc.

"too good to be true" See my WSO Blog
 

Yes there are lots but how many recruit undergrads straight out?

I'd guess actually not many - typically at a minimum I think they try and snag the BB kids down on Fleet St or in Canary after a year or so, but I can't speak for all HFs.

I'd ring a few headhunters (there are LOTS of those) and ask them what they think. Also keep in mind that later down the road, having no experience on the sell-side could be a ding - even if it's just for a year, it's important to see all sides of the deal.

if you like it then you shoulda put a banana on it
 

I know 2 people who got into Citadel straight after CompSci from one of top unis in London... But this is very rare, only the biggest ones actually come and recruit on campuses, and even then most of the opportunities I've seen are for quant positions and they want MSc/ PhD.

"Every man should lose a battle in his youth, so he does not lose a war when he is old"
 

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I'm talking about liquid. Rich enough to have your own jet. Rich enough not to waste time. Fifty, a hundred million dollars, buddy. A player. Or nothing. See my Blog & AMA
 

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"too good to be true" See my WSO Blog

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