The world's top 20 hedge fund managers posted their biggest gains of the decade in 2019 - and returned $59.3 billion to their investors

• The 20 best-performing hedge fund managers of all time gained $59.3 billion in 2019 to post their best annual return in at least a decade, according to a report released Monday by LCH Investments.
• TCI manager Christopher Hohn led his fund to a $8.4 billion windfall last year, the largest return among the group of 20.
• The best-performers bagged about one-third of the $178 billion taken in by hedge funds in 2019, LCH said.
• Most funds still underperformed equities as the US stock market soared through 2019. The S&P 500 gained 29%, while the hedge fund industry saw a 9% gain in the same period, according to Bloomberg's Hedge Fund Indices.
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The 20 best-performing hedge fund managers of all time gained $59.3 billion in 2019 to post their best annual return in at least a decade, according to an LCH Investments report released Monday.

Funds enjoyed major gains from surging stock and bond markets through the past year. TCI manager Christopher Hohn led his fund to a $8.4 billion windfall, the largest among the group of 20. Steve Mandel, manager of Lone Pine, took second place with a $7.3 billion gain.

The 20 best-performers bagged roughly one-third of the $178 billion taken in by hedge funds in 2019, according to the report.

Though many hedge funds posted their best gains in years, most lagged behind investors who focused on the US stock market. The hedge fund sector notched a 9% gain in 2019, according to Bloomberg's Hedge Fund Indices, well below the S&P 500's 29% gain through the year.

Last year's gains mark "a significant improvement after several years of muted returns," LCH chairman Rick Sopher told the Financial Times. The top 20 managers still posted moderate gains in 2018, though the hedge fund industry lost $41 billion of investor capital, the Times reported.

"The 'hedged' nature of hedge funds has resulted in them lagging way behind the returns of the equity markets in particular," Sopher added.

TCI's leading gain in 2019 placed it at 14th on the list of top 20 managers after not making the cut in 2018.

Ray Dalio's Bridgewater remained at the top spot despite its meager $600 million gain through the year. The fund holds $131.9 billion in assets under management, more than the next four best-performing funds combined.

Caxton Associates and Two Sigma lost their spots in the top 20 last year, the Times reported. Egerton, led by John Armitage, was the second fund to make its way onto the list in 2019 after TCI.

Lone Pine jumped from seventh to fourth place between 2018 and 2019, the biggest jump among funds included in the list across both years.

The hedge fund sector continued to shrink through 2019 despite the healthy returns. The industry saw more closures than openings for the fifth year in a row in 2019 as lofty fees and soaring stocks drove investors to other vehicles. Major players including David Tepper's Appaloosa and Louis Bacon's Moore Capital converted into family offices in 2019.

Appaloosa took 10th place on LCH's list, while Moore Capital sank to 19th from 15th in 2019.

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