Man Group’s latest trading statement for the quarter ended 31 March 2015 reveals that funds under management (FUM) are up 7 per cent to USD78.1 billion as at 31 March 2015 (31 December 2014: USD72.9 billion).
Current FUM are estimated at USD82.0 billion including USD2.4 billion related to the acquisitions of NewSmith and BAML fund of funds.
All Man’s managers achieved positive investment performance adding USD4.3 billion to FUM in the quarter and good performance across AHL’s range of strategies led to USD1.3 billion of positive investment movement in quant alternative strategies in the period.
Asset weighted outperformance of 137 basis points (before fees) across Numeric’s strategies and performance overall added USD0.6 billion to FUM in the quarter. Positive performance across GLG’s range of alternative strategies added USD0.5 billion to FUM in the period.
In terms of long only, the majority of GLG’s long only strategies had positive investment performance in the quarter, with the main contributor to the positive investment movement of USD1.6 billion being the Japan CoreAlpha strategy, while FRM’s investment performance added USD0.2 billion to FUM.
The quarter saw net outflows of USD1.3 billion, comprising sales of USD4.2 billion and redemptions of USD5.5 billion. Net inflows into quant alternatives (USD0.7 billion) and quant long only (USD0.3 billion), were offset by net outflows from discretionary long only (USD0.9 billion), discretionary alternatives (USD0.6 billion), fund of fund alternatives (USD0.6 billion) and guaranteed products (USD0.2 billion).
The firm experienced foreign exchange movements of negative USD2.0 billion in the quarter, driven by the strengthening of the US dollar against the Euro (around 11 per cent) and GBP (around 5 per cent).
The acquisition of Silvermine completed on 24 January 2015 and added USD3.8 billion to FUM. Other positive movements of USD0.4 billion were driven by guaranteed product re-gears of USD0.2 billion, USD0.2 billion of positive rebalancing at AHL and an additional USD0.2 billion from seeding activity. This was partially offset by product maturities and other movements of negative USD0.2 billion.
Manny Roman, Chief Executive Officer of Man, says: “We had a good start to the year from a performance perspective which, together with the latest acquisitions, contributed to an overall 7 per cent increase in FUM over the quarter. AHL’s traditional momentum strategies had a strong first quarter and continue to perform well on a relative basis, returns have improved across GLG’s range of strategies and Numeric’s strategies continue to outperform their respective benchmarks. We are pleased to have completed the Silvermine, NewSmith and BAML fund of funds acquisitions which help to broaden our product offering and US footprint.”
However, Roman warns that the firm retains a degree of caution on the outlook for the first half. “As ever, the outlook for the rest of the year will likely depend on performance. Whilst we have a reasonable pipeline of sales, in particular in our quant businesses, recent market volatility reminds us of the uncertain macro environment in which we operate and its potential impact on demand for our products” he said.
