How do you verify a fund's AUM? Suppose a fund manager tells you that he manages $100 million. How can someone verify this?
If it is a regulated fund then most likely they have to report to their regulator and publish audited financial statements.
I think it is more important that the fund manager must have been paying good profits consistently for more than 10 years and has a registered company and trading experience of 20 years or more. The funds under management are not that important.
please elaborate. AUM needs to be dug out of the audited financial statements? how? i thought there would be a more definitive way to get the number. maybe the administrator?
Regulated Hedge Funds are not required to publish anything with respect to the public as they are Private Placement Investments. In fact, publishing this kind of information would be considered marketing and for Hedge Funds that's a no-no. They are, however, required to provide full disclosure to a prospective qualified investor.
what should an investor ask for to get the AUM number? surely the investor shoudn't just take the manager's word.
Ask for audited financial statements. They will probably ask you to sign a non-disclosure agreement and provide a statement that you are a qualified investor.