JP Morgan Chase is Largest Hedge Fund Company (NYSE: JPM)

JP Morgan Chase & Co (NYSE: JPM) is the world’s largest hedge-fund firm in by assets, according to a new report from Pensions & Investments magazine.

JP Morgan, which owns Highbridge Capital Management LLC, managed a total of $53.5 billion at the end of 2009, according to a survey that the magazine published on its website. Highbridge oversaw $32.5 billion and JP Morgan’s Asset Management unit had $21 billion in hedge-fund assets.

Bridgewater Associates LP, based in Westport, CT, ranked second with $43.6 billion in hedge funds assets. John Paulson’s Paulson & Co ranked third with 432 billion in assets.

Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP, out of London, and George Soros’s New York- based Soros Fund Management LLC each had $27 billion in hedge-fund assets. London-based Man Group Plc managed $25.3 billion. Boston-based Baupost Group LLC, run by Seth Klarman, had $20 billion in assets.

The 11 largest hedge funds managed a total of $316.2 billion in assets as of the end of 2009, compared with $316 billion that the top ten largest hedge firms managed at the end 2007.

The magazine said, “The flat growth disguises what clearly was a period of intense turmoil for many hedge-fund managers.”