Hedge fund assets globally may not recover to their previous peak of $1.9 trillion (€1.4 trillion) for at least four years as they continue to suffer the ripple effects of what one manager termed the equivalent of the industry's "dot-com bust", according to McKinsey research.

While assets under management are likely to stabilise and recover to an extent over the coming years, they will not attain their previous high - achieved in the second quarter of last year - before 2014, according to base case estimates by McKinsey Global Institute, a think tank affiliate of the management consultancy.