STOCKS | Millennium Nears $100 Billion as Hedge Fund Giants Enter a New Era

Millennium Management is rapidly moving into the top tier of hedge funds. According to Sina Finance, people familiar with the matter said the firm’s assets have reached $97 billion, more than double the level it managed six years ago. The move toward the $100 billion mark would put Izzy Englander’s firm ahead of most major rivals, even as those rivals also manage record sums, and would place it among a very small group in the industry. The company is set to complete $22 billion in new fundraising commitments on October 1, with $2 billion to be funded that day and the rest to be paid over four years. It has also said it plans to raise another $3 billion for a less liquid credit fund. According to Sina Finance, Millennium has said its total assets could exceed $130 billion in the coming years, given that it typically generates at least a 10% annual return. AQR Capital Management has surpassed $140 billion in hedge fund assets this year, while DE Shaw & Co. currently manages about $90 billion. Another six firms now manage more than $75 billion, the first time so many have crossed that threshold. Wendy Li, co-founder of Ivy Invest, said some institutional investors are increasingly worried that more money concentrated in a few firms could create systemic risk for the financial system. Li said these funds often use similar strategies and tend to sell at the same time during periods of market turbulence. Millennium and other firms now cluster around the $100 billion level, underscoring how much the industry has changed over the past several decades. Thirty years ago, it was common for star portfolio managers to run small teams making a few high-risk bets, but managing more than $20 billion proved unlikely. Even Julian Robertson and George Soros, once among the world’s largest hedge fund managers, could not sustain such large-scale risky trading.