Funds
Investors pulled USD16.43 billion from the hedge funds in June, bringing year-to-date (YTD) outflows to -USD44.61 billion, according to the June 2019 eVestment Hedge Fund Asset Flows report. Overall industry AUM stood at USD3.273 trillion in June.
For the month of June, 57 per cent of reporting managers had net redemptions, and the month capped off the fifth consecutive quarter of industry redemptions. However, that also means that in June 43 per cent of managers had inflows or were flat. For hedge funds managers, this highlights the importance of having a compelling marketing and investor relations message that highlights performance,
Total hedge fund assets increased to USD3.245 trillion in the second quarter of the year, narrowly eclipsing the previous record level of USD3.244 trillion in Q3 2018, according to the latest HFR Global Hedge Fund Industry Report.
Led by a strong Q1 recovery from the defensive outperformance in Q4 2018, the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index gained +7.44 per cent in the first half of 2019, the strongest 1H gain since 2009. Like many US equity market indices, the 2019 performance increases the HFRI to a record index value of 14,391.
Total hedge fund assets increased by USD63.7 billion in Q2 on strong performance-based gains, following the USD78.8 billion increase in Q1 and bringing the YTD capital growth to USD142.5 billion through June. Investor
Inflexion Private Equity is to acquire Estera, a global provider of funds, corporate and trust services from Bridgepoint. Following completion of the investment, Estera will be merged with Inflexion’s existing portfolio company Ocorian, forming a global corporate service and fund administration leader of significant scale.
The combined business will operate from 18 key global jurisdictions, including Bermuda, Cayman, Guernsey, Ireland, Jersey, Luxembourg and Mauritius. The businesses will have over 1,250 professionals globally, serving over 8,000 clients across the corporate service, fund administration and private client sector. Together, Ocorian and Estera, will provide a complete range of services to clients with
WHP Global (WHP), a new brand management platform led by Chairman & CEO Yehuda Shmidman has launched backed by a USD200 million equity commitment from funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management (Oaktree).
WHP was founded to acquire and manage multiple global consumer brands, leveraging a shared platform to unlock competitive advantages at scale and fuel growth for each distinctive brand in its portfolio. The Company plans to deploy up to USD1 billion in capital over the next five years.
The Company also today announced its first acquisition with the purchase of global fashion brand Anne Klein from Premier Brands Group. An iconic
Hedge funds reversed a brief two-month redemption trend in May with USD800 million in industry inflows, a turnaround from April’s USD9.4 billion in redemptions, according to Barclay Fund Flow Indicator published by BarclayHedge.
While the fund flow needle turned upward in May, the month’s inflows represented a negligible portion of industry assets.
Strong US economic indicators, an equity market rally that saw the S&P 500 making up ground lost in late 2018 and four consecutive profitable months for hedge funds was enough to overcome the redemption impact of Brexit worries and worries over an economic slowdown elsewhere in the world.
CTA funds posted a 1.59 per cent return in June, according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge. Year-to-date, the Index has gained 3.84 per cent through June.
“Recession fears coupled with market anticipation of Fed loosening rallied prices for long-term bonds and short-term notes while gold prices rose to a six-year high,” says Sol Waksman (pictured), president of BarclayHedge. “Equity investors seemed to ignore recession concerns and focused on the benefits of a rate cut, propelling the S&P 500 7 per cent higher on the month.”
Nearly all CTA fund sectors posted positive returns in June, the lone
GAM Holding has received all the proceeds from the sale of the remaining assets within its unconstrained/absolute return bond funds (ARBF) in line with the agreement announced on 17 April 2019.
The sale will result in an average of 100.5 per cent of net asset value being returned to clients relative to the valuations at the time the liquidation of the respective funds commenced.
GAM’s priority throughout the liquidation process has been to maximise liquidity and value for its clients. Since the beginning of September 2018, when the liquidation of the ARBF funds commenced, clients have already received funds in
European mid-market private equity investor Equistone Partners Europe (Equistone) is to acquire Moody’s Analytics Knowledge Services (Knowledge Services), a provider of bespoke research, analytics and automation technology to the financial services sector, from Moody’s Corporation.
Established in 2014 through the merger of the Moody’s subsidiaries Copal Partners and Amba Research, Knowledge Services provides various market-leading customised knowledge services, in domains such as investment banking, investment research, private equity & consulting and commercial lending. The business, headquartered in London and operating across nine delivery centres worldwide, employs a specialist workforce of subject matter experts working as an extension of clients’ teams.
The Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index was up 1.83 per cent in June, bringing its year-to-date return to 5.84 per cent, according to the July2019 edition of the Eurekahedge report.
Roughly 24.7 per cent of the hedge fund managers comprising the index have recorded double-digit gains over the first half of the year.
The global hedge fund industry AUM has grown by USD2.0 billion as of June 2019 year-to-date. Preliminary Q2 2019 net outflows figure stood at USD23.8 billion, as investor redemptions continued to slow down. Hedge fund managers recorded USD46.4 billion and USD94.7 billion of net outflows in Q1 2019
Hedge funds’ monthly results returned to the black in June with a 1.94 per cent return, a turnaround from May’s 1.66 per cent decline, according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge.
By comparison, the S&P 500 Total Return Index was up 7.07 per cent in June.
With positive returns in five of the past six months, hedge funds have gained 7.06 per cent in the first half of the year, its best start since 2009 when the Index gained 10.93 per cent in H1.
“Declining interest rates in the US and Europe fuelled June’s rally in share
