Big players investing $1 billion or more in hedge funds grows by nearly 30% in 12 months

    cash money

    Hedge funds are feeling the love from their wealthiest investors.

    The number of global investors with $1 billion or more in hedge funds grew by 51 in the last 12 months, reaching a total of 227, according to data from Preqin. Despite the overall mediocre performance and the exit of some large pensions, many wealthy investorsĀ have continued to allocate huge amounts to the hedge fund space, reports CNBC.

    Last year insurance companies were the largest group of new $1 billion hedge fund investors, but private sector pension funds have been edging them out this year. About 29% of the new entries between May 2014 and May 2015 were from private sector pensions.

    Public pensions account for a fourth, the largest portion, of the $1 billion club overall.

    Photo: iStockPhoto.com.