Hedge Fund Research Inc. reported yesterday that hedge fund assets increased by 17 percent last year, reaching a record $2.63 trillion, Bloomberg News reported. Global assets rose by $376 billion, including $63.7 billion in net inflows from investors and $312 billion in investment gains, the Chicago-based data provider said in a report today. The fourth quarter was the sixth in a row that the industry saw a growth in assets, it said. Investors poured $29.6 billion into event-driven strategies, which include activist-oriented hedge funds such as Daniel Loeb’s Third Point LLC and Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management LP.
