Reuters – Pension funds and endowments are using hedge funds to help boost returns and they plan to hire additional managers as they become more familiar with the lightly regulated $1.2 trillionindustry, a new survey shows.<\/p>\n
In the coming year, institutional clients, including pension funds, charities and university endowments, expect to add new hedge fund and private equity fund managers to their lineups, according to a survey prepared by State Street Corp. (STT.N: Quote<\/a>, Profile<\/a>, Research<\/a>).<\/p>\n The study was released on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Last year when the study was conducted, 44 percent of all polled institutional investors said they had 10 percent or more of their assets in hedge funds. In the year-ago period only 35 percent had put 10 percent or more into that asset class, the survey shows.<\/p>\n “There is a shift in comfort level and those who have invested before are now investing more money in hedge funds,” said Gary Enos, State Street’s head of alternative investment services.<\/p>\n