Hedge Funds Get Big or Go Home

Hedge funds have had a rough year.

They have delivered unimpressive returns. They're battling one another for a stagnant pool of investor money. They're steadily lowering fees. The pressure is bifurcating the $3 trillion industry, helping to make big hedge-fund firms even bigger while sending many smaller ones into extinction.

Firms with more than $10 billion of assets under management can more easily afford to reduce fees and customize strategies. And that’s exactly what they’re doing, according to a recently released Ernst & Young global hedge-fund report.

Bigger firms have lowered fees more than smaller ones, which makes them more appealing to clients such as pension funds and insurers. Consider Brevan Howard, for example, which earlier this year cut some management fees to zero for certain clients. The once-average 2 percent management fee has fallen to 1.35 percent this year, Ernst & Young data show.