Hedge funds recorded one of the strongest monthly inflows of recent years in May, with investors committing $6bn, according to the latest data from Citco, the asset servicer with more than $2tn in assets under administration.
Citco’s Mothly Hedge Fund Update for May reports that 80% of its administered hedge funds delivered positive performance last month, generating a weighted average return of 3.2%.
Equity strategies led the performance charge with a 4% weighted average return, closely followed by multi-strategy funds at 3.2%. Conversely, commodities-focused managers were the sole underperformers, slipping 1% for the month.
Larger vehicles outshone smaller peers, with funds with over $3bn in assets returned 3.6%, while those in the $1bn–$3bn bracket gained 2.3%. Across the board, net subscriptions of $17.4bn comfortably exceeded redemptions of $11.4bn, reflecting robust investor confidence.
Regional flows were led by the Americas, which saw a net inflow of $7.9bn, while Europe and Asia posted more modest inflows of $4.8bn and $0.3bn, respectively. Citco also processed 56,248 treasury payments in May—another month above the 50,000 milestone, underscoring continued operational activity in the sector.
Despite resilient returns and capital raising, dispersion among managers narrowed slightly, with the gap between the 90th and 10th percentile monthly returns contracting to 8.9%, from 9.6% in April, indicating more uniform performance amid the market rebound.
