SEC Staff Supplements Quarterly Private Funds Statistics

The Securities and Exchange Commission staff today published an expanded suite of data and analyses of private fund statistics and trends.

The Private Funds Statistics, released quarterly since October 2015 by the Division of Investment Management’s Analytics Office, offers investors and other market participants valuable insights by aggregating data reported by private fund advisers on Form ADV and Form PF. The most recent version of the report, published today, includes new statistics that offer more detailed reporting of the aggregate investment exposures by asset type for certain hedge funds as well as new analysis of private funds' borrowing, beneficial ownership, and use of stress testing.

As supplemented, the report now includes more than 100 separate tables and figures that provide a comprehensive analysis of private fund industry practices, including numbers of funds by type, gross and net assets, investment strategies, use of borrowing and derivatives, collateralization of borrowings, and investment category exposures. These new statistics supplement information about borrowing by all private funds, beneficial ownership of private funds, hedge funds that pursue a single strategy, open positions reported by hedge funds, and hedge fund advisers' use of stress testing. An earlier expansion of the report, in May 2017, added new statistics about the use of financial and economic leverage by hedge funds and the characteristics of private liquidity funds.

About the Data Sources

Form ADV is used by investment advisers to register with the Commission and or certain state securities authorities. Advisers must report on Form ADV general information about private funds that they manage, such as basic organizational and operational information, fund size and ownership.

Form PF is filed by SEC-registered investment advisers with at least $150 million in private funds assets under management to report information about the private funds that they manage. Most advisers file Form PF annually to report general information such as the types of private funds advised (e.g., hedge funds or private equity), each fund's size, leverage, liquidity and types of investors. Certain larger advisers provide more information on a more frequent basis (including more detailed information on certain larger funds).