New York (HedgeCo.net) – The last few months have been tough on a good portion of the hedge fund industry and several big-name firms have announced fund closures, asset declines and staffing cuts. One of the latest firms to announce such cuts is European fund manager Brevan Howard.

According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, the firm has cut approximately 70 staff members in recent months. The firm has closed several funds in 2015 as the result of client redemptions and these closures led to the staffing cuts. The report states that the cuts have been in the form of support personnel rather than investment professionals.

Brevan Howard manages approximately $25 billion, but that is down this year. How much it is down depends upon who has the more accurate numbers. According to the Wall Street Journal article, the assets have dropped from $33 billion to $25 billion in 2015, while an article from Bloomberg this past week stated that assets fell by about $3 billion to $24.8 billion in the first nine months of 2015. The two sources agree on the assets being managed, but the Journal shows the firm starting with $33 billion to start the year while Bloomberg puts the assets at approximately $27.8 at the beginning of the year. One decline would be 24% while the other is just over 11%.

Regardless of which one is more accurate, the decline in assets has been significant.

Rick Pendergraft
Research Analyst
HedgeCoVest