Ferraris, super-yachts and free-flowing champagne - for a decade, Monaco and hedge funds have gone hand-in-hand. Not any more. As the warm Mediterranean sun set over Le Meridien Beach Plaza hotel in the small principality, attendees could look forward to next year's event in Amsterdam.
The turn north comes after many industry players shied away from the glitzy image of the event, in the playground of the super-rich and famous, after several years of poor or average performance that has added weight to demands for a further reduction in fees.
This year's GAIM conference attracted around 400 delegates, a far cry from pre-financial crisis times when more than 1,000 used to descend on the city state famed for its Formula One Grand Prix race and casinos.
While the industry's assets under management have grown to about $3 trillion, it has recorded single-digit returns since 2012, data from hedge fund tracker HFR showed - less than an investor could have accrued by betting on the S&P 500 Index .
Fees have declined; they are now 1.54 per cent of total asset value plus 17.73 per cent of returns, on average, HFR data shows, compared with the "2+20" typical before the crisis.
Hedge funds have started off well this year, though, with returns rising about 4 per cent through to the end of May, and nearly four times the gains in the S&P 500. Assets under management rose by US$18 billion (S$24.17 billion) in the first quarter.
Despite the fall in delegate numbers compared with before 2008, organisers say attendance improved in 2015 versus the past few years.
For those small and emerging managers making the long trek home to New York, Boston, London or even further afield, the event offered access to the money of investors who in recent years have favoured larger rivals.
The top 11 per cent of firms by size have gobbled up 92 per cent of industry assets, data from industry tracker Preqin shows, as pension investors and others have favoured larger funds because they perceive them to be safer.
But many of these big players are now closed to new investors due to concerns that managing too much money would hurt performance, raising hopes that money would start pouring into smaller managers.
Hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb's Third Point and Jonathon Jacobson's Highfields Capital rank among the prominent funds that told have investors in recent years that they would close their funds to fresh capital.
"What's supporting emerging managers is that a lot of the big guys are closing," Georg Reutter, head of research at Kepler Partners said at the GAIM conference.
"As more of them close, the trickle down effect will have to happen." The hedge fund gathering attracts a large number of new and small managers to Monaco looking to tap wealthy family offices and rich individuals from the region.
"One of the reasons I am here is that... you get a lot of small investors and smaller family offices who are looking primarily for yield, have a bit more risk appetite for new emerging managers," said Jonathan Kinlay, president of Systematic Strategies who returned to the event after staying away for several years.
If nothing else, the move to the Netherlands also provides a change of scenery for conference stalwarts.
"The new location of GAIM is very exciting for conference participants," said Don Steinbrugge, managing partner at Agecroft Partners and a regular attendee. "Monte Carlo is a wonderful location, but not as enjoyable if you go every year."