Hedge Funds Name Merrill Lynch Top Firm for Europe's Best Analysts in Alpha Magazine
New York (ots/PRNewswire)
Merrill Lynch, which ranked third in Institutional Investor's 2005 All-Europe research team rankings, jumps to the top spot in hedge fund managers' esteem, the March/April issue of Alpha magazine reports. To obtain its rankings, Alpha retabulated the results of II's 2005 All-Europe and Emerging EMEA research teams to count only votes cast by hedge funds. Fourteen first-place squads in 13 categories differ from those that rank in the overall survey. UBS, the first-place winner in this year's overall survey, ties for second with Deutsche Bank, which also finished second in the broader ranking. Credit Suisse First Boston jumps from sixth place in the general survey to fourth, while last year's hedge fund favorite, Morgan Stanley, appears in fifth, matching its place on the All-Europe leaderboard.
Alpha said that sell-side researchers are finding they must fine-tune their work if they hope to impress the most demanding of clients in Europe, where hedge funds are growing fast. Assets controlled by the 25 biggest European funds, as measured by Alpha, rose 44 percent during the 12 months ended September 30, 2004. "Long-only managers want the standard proactive service -- analysts making the calls," says Merrill Lynch's Simon Greenwell, head of equity research for Europe. "The hedge funds don't want that. What they do respect is for us to be very responsive to their requests."
The leaders in Developed Europe, according to the March/April issue of Institutional Investor's Alpha Magazine:
Rank Total team positions
Hedge All- Hedge All-
fund Europe fund Europe
2005 2005 Firm 2005 2005
1 3 Merrill Lynch 20 29
2 2 Deutsche Bank 19 31
2 1 UBS 19 36
4 6 Credit Suisse
First Boston 18 22
5 5 Morgan Stanley 15 23
6 4 Smith Barney
Citigroup 13 27
7 8 Goldman Sachs
International 12 10
8 10 J.P. Morgan 11 7
8 7 Lehman Brothers 11 18
10 8 Dresdner Kleinwort
Wasserstein 5 10
11 15 Enskilda Securities 2 1
12 15 ABG Sundal Collier 1 1
12 10 ABN Amro 1 7
12 - Bear Stearns
International 1 0
12 12 CA Cheuvreux 1 6
12 15 Carnegie Investment
Bank 1 1
12 13 Cazenove(1) 1 2
12 15 Davy 1 1
12 13 Exane BNP Paribas 1 2
12 15 Nomura International 1 1
(1) Cazenove has merged its investment banking business with
J.P. Morgan's U.K. investment banking operations in a joint venture
known as J.P. Morgan Cazenove.
The leaders in Emerging Europe, Middle East and Africa, according to the
March/April issue of Institutional Investor's Alpha Magazine:
Rank Total team positions
Hedge Emerging Hedge Emerging
fund EMEA fund EMEA
2005 2005 Firm 2005 2005
1 1 UBS 3 10
2 5 Renaissance
Capital 2 5
3 2 Deutsche Bank 1 9For more information please visit http://www.institutionalinvestor.com/alpha
Web site: http://www.institutionalinvestor.com/alpha
Contact:
Kim Lemmonds of Institutional Investor, +1-212-224-3650,
klemmonds@institutionalinvestor.com