Hedge Fund News: Hedge funds to take off.

(From European Pensions & Investments News)

Byline: Andrew Holt

Hedge fund assets are set to quadruple to US$2,000bn (E1,700bn) by 2010 on the back of average returns of 9%, according to one speaker at the Global Alternative Investment Conference (GAIM) conference in Geneva this month.

Donald Putnam, chief executive officer and managing director of Putnam Lovell NBF Securities, projected the rate of inflow will increase steadily 2.5% a year to 9.4% of beginning year assets in 2010. Cumulative inflow through to 2010 would be nearly US$800bn, he said.

Although the figures are mostly relevant to US institutions, European pension funds are …