Ray Dalio of Bridgewater Associates overtook billionaire George Soros in 2015 as the man behind the hedge fund that has made the most money for investors in the history of the industry, according to an annual ranking. 

Dalio’s Bridgewater Pure Alpha fund, set up in 1975, has earned $45 billion in absolute terms through last year, according to estimates by LCH Investments NV, a London-based firm that invests in hedge funds. Soros’s Quantum Endowment Fund, dating to 1973, has made $42.8 billion, LCH said in the ranking published Tuesday.

Pure Alpha and Quantum Endowment have $82.3 billion and $29 billion respectively in funds.

The 20 most profitable hedge funds for investors earned $15 billion last year while the rest of the industry collectively lost $99 billion, LCH said. Those top managers have made 48 percent of the $835 billion in profits that the hedge fund industry has generated since its inception.

"Over the past 10 years, which includes the period of the global financial crisis, the top 20 managers collectively made $304.8 billion," Rick Sopher, chairman of LCH Investments, said in the report. "This is a staggeringly good return, showing that it is possible to make significant profits for investors, even in the most challenging of conditions."

Lansdowne Developed Markets and Maverick funds are new entrants to the top-20 list after making nearly $12 billion each for their investors. Bill Ackman’s activist hedge fund firm Pershing Square and hedge fund ESL moved off the list, LCH said.