Hedge funds recorded net outflows of $9.5 billion as long/short equities, event-driven, and macro funds strategies reported the largest outflows, Eurekahedge’s preliminary data for September 2014 reveals. However, year-to-date, hedge funds are up 3.82%, witnessing net inflows of $60.7 billion in 2014.
September brings outflows
According to Eurekahedge’s October 2014 report, the preliminary data for September revealed that managers have posted performance-based losses of $1.2 billion. As captured in the following graph, the current amount of assets under management in the global hedge fund industry stood at $2.13 trillion as of September 2014:
As can be deduced from the following table, North American funds clocked net asset outflows of $5.2 billion while posting performance-based losses of $.8 billion during September, with exposure to equities accounting for the bulk of the performance-based losses.
European fund managers saw net outflows of $2.6 billion, as redemption pressure has built up over the past three months thanks to manager performance remaining lukewarm compared to other regions.
Interestingly, Asia was the only region to clock net asset inflows in September, garnering another $.5 billion. Moreover, India-investing hedge funds contributed record gains, reporting their ninth consecutive month of positive returns, with 2.44% up for the month and 30.65% year-to-date.
Hedge funds’ asset flow by strategy
Tracking asset flows for September, the Eurekahedge report highlights that barely any strategies recorded positive asset flows, with fixed income being the sole strategy that didn’t witness net investor redemption. Long/short equities, event-driven, and macro funds accounted for the bulk of the outflows as investors redeemed $3.3 billion, $2.3 billion and $2.0 billion, respectively, from these strategies.
According to the Eurekahedge report, hedge funds hit a rough patch during September after clocking a profitable month in August. In September, most strategies reported losses, while CTA/managed future funds was the one bright spot, topping the table for the second month in row and gaining 2.29%:
Turning the focus to North American hedge funds, the report highlights that North American hedge funds continued to clock excellent growth for 2014 year to date, keeping up with the strong gains witnessed in 2013, which have raised the region’s share of AUM to roughly two-thirds of the global hedge fund industry. As set forth in the following table, as of August 2014, the total AUM of the North American hedge fund industry surpassed the $1.4 trillion mark to stand at $1.43 trillion managed by a total of 5,093 hedge funds.
