Horizon21, the Swiss investment firm, confirmed to WealthBriefing that it is closing three funds of hedge funds, caused by “fundamental changes” in financial markets.

“In order to protect the integrity of the portfolios with a fair and equal treatment of investors, as well as our clients' and shareholders' assets, we have decided to wind down these products,” a spokesman for Horizon21 said.

Investors, rattled by the worst performance for hedge funds on average in history, pulled a total of $155 billion from these portfolios in 2008, a record figure, with the bulk of the pullouts happening in the final three months of last year, according to data from Hedge Fund Research.

Le Temps reported over the weekend that the funds were being closed because its clients wanted to increase their cash holdings. The changes means the firm will make 17 of its 160 employees redundant. The three funds had assets worth a total of about SFr1 billion in February this year, Le Temps said.

Horizon21 did not elaborate on the names of the funds or their performance track record when asked for this information by WealthBriefing.

Founded in 2004, Horizon21 has offices in
Zurich,
London, Hong Kong, the Cayman Islands and

Bratislava. Besides hedge funds and private equity, the firm also focuses on sectors such as the BRIC economies, insurance-linked securities and infrastructure.