More European hedge funds to launch

LONDON (Reuters) - Fundraising by new European hedge funds may be picking up, according to an industry survey, after hitting a record low in a first half of the year overshadowed by the Madoff scandal.

The survey, released on Monday by data group EuroHedge, shows $2.09 billion (1.26 billion pounds) was raised in new funds in the first six months of 2009, the lowest in the poll's 10-year history, while 47 new funds were launched.

A year ago 106 funds were launched, raising $10.8 billion, including $2.5 billion raised by the Brevan Howard Multi-Strategy fund.

However, EuroHedge said July to December could see a revival in fundraising as a number of new portfolios are lined up.

It picked out a new central European fund launch by Duet, a U.S. equity fund for RWC Partners, the Gyldmark macro fund and former TCI co-founder Patrick Degorce's new firm Theleme.

The $1.4 trillion hedge fund industry is slowly starting to emerge from its biggest-ever crisis, which has included a record poor performance last year and the revelation of the fraud by U.S. financier Bernard Madoff in December.

Investors withdrew a net $300 billion from hedge funds between October and June, according to Hedge Fund Research, although the pace is slowing.

(To read the Reuters Hedge Fund Blog click on blogs.reuters.com/hedgehub; for the Global Investing Blog click here)

(Reporting by Laurence Fletcher; Editing by Greg Mahlich)