JPMorgan Asset Management ranked at the top of the hedge fund mountain at the beginning of 2007, with $34 billion under management, according to a survey released March 5 by Absolute Return magazine. The figure was a heady 74 percent jump from a year earlier; it includes assets of Highbridge Capital Management, in which JPMorgan bought controlling interest in 2004. Goldman Sachs Asset Management, bumped from first place by JPMorgan, registered $32.53 billion AUM, a 48 percent increase. Bridgewater Associates was in the third spot with $30.2 billion, up 47 percent.

Using figures dated Jan. 1, the survey also showed that 241 U.S. hedge fund firms manage $1 billion or more in assets, and 76 of those manage $5 billion or more in assets. The top 20 hedge fund firms control nearly one-third of assets: $386 billion.

Rounding out the top 10 hedge fund firms were D.E. Shaw Group, Farallon Capital Management, Renaissance Technologies Corp., Och-Ziff Capital Management, Cerberus Capital Management, Barclays Global Investors and ESL Investments.

Absolute Return is a unit of HedgeFund Intelligence.