With a continuingly-steady increase in hedge fund assets, France is the second largest and fastest-growing market in Europe’s hedge fund sector.
Although not as prominent as its counterparts in the UK or US, French hedge funds have experienced steady and continuous growth over the years. Paris, with its abundant supply of mathematical and engineering talent from France’s elite universities, is building its reputation as one of Europe’s top financial hubs.
Which Paris Hedge Funds are worth keeping an eye on?
Here are some of the top hedge funds in France, in order of date of founding:
Capital Fund Management
Jean-Pierre Aguilar founded Capital Fund Management (CFM) in 1991. It is a systematic quant fund based in Paris, with €9.1bn in AUM (as of July 2022) and over 200 employees. Since Jean-Pierre Aguilar’s death in 2009, it has been led by Professor Jean-Philippe Bouchaud, the theoretical physicist.
ABC Arbitrage
Established 4 years later, in 1995, ABC Arbitrage specialises in systematic arbitrage strategies across multiple asset classes. They keep details of their total AUM under wraps. Headquartered in Paris, ABC Arbritage also have offices in Dublin and Singapore.
Tikehau Capital
Founded in 2004 by Mathieu Chabran and Antoine Flamarion, who met when they were previously colleagues at Merrill Lynch, Tikehau has over €31.2bn in AUM and over 700 employees. However, as they market other investment pathways, not all of this AUM is from investments in their hedge fund offerings.
Amundi Alternative Investments
Founded in 2010 and based in Paris, Amundi Alternative Investments, as the name suggests, focuses on alternative investment strategies, such as global macro investments and long/short equity. It is part of the larger Amundi asset management group, the largest in the EU, which has €1,961 billion AUM, more than 100 million clients and 5,400 employees (at time of writing in July 2023)
One Eleven Capital
Launched in 2017, One Eleven Capital describes itself as a boutique quant fund manager. It was founded by Maxime Kahn, SocGen’s former head of European trading. It has a link to Millennium, through investment, but remains independent.
Machina Capital
Machina Capital was founded in 2017 by Arthur Dénouveaux and Arnaud de Lasteyrie, who were colleagues at SocGen. It is a Paris-based quant fund which uses artificial intelligence (AI) for equity investing.
The future of Hedge Funds in France
Hedge Funds in France are regulated by the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF), the country’s financial markets regulator. France is also subject to EU-wide regulations, including the AIFMD and MiFID II, as well as the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), which was brought in in 2021.
Although Paris still competes with other European financial hubs, such as Frankfurt and London, the current French government continues to encourage a balance between regulatory frameworks and an opening up of the industry. Also with London now being outside the EU, many US hedge funds are now considering alternatives like Paris.
Going forward, France looks to become an increasingly attractive option for hedge funds and asset management in general.
