Hedge fund performance showed no sign of turning south in August, with another positive month recorded, driven by global macro, equity and multi-strategy funds.
The overall weighted average return for funds administered by the Citco group of companies came in at 2.3%, taking the year-to-date return to 14.1%.
Global macro funds were the top performers in August, with a weighted average return of 3.1%, followed by equity strategies at 2.8% and multi-strategy funds at 2.1%.
Multi-strategy funds have been investors’ go to hedge funds this year, and in August that trend continued, with subscriptions of $6bn (£4.4bn) well ahead of redemptions of $3.1bn (£2.3bn), giving them a further $2.9bn (£2.1bn) of net inflows.
Year-to-date, these strategies have now accounted for $31.9bn (£23.6bn) of total net inflows.
All strategy groupings were positive, with fixed income arbitrage strategies next at 0.9%, commodities at 0.8%, and event driven at 0.7%.
Meanwhile Hybrid funds had net inflows of $1bn, followed by fund of funds at $0.6bn, and global macro strategies at $0.5bn, while arbitrage strategies had net inflows of $0.1bn.
Other strategies were flat for the month, bar equities, which had net outflows of $1.1bn.
The fund of hedge funds sector continues to evolve amid changing investor preferences and market dynamics.
While the industry has changed significantly in the last decade, funds of hedge funds remain popular for investors seeking diversified hedge fund exposure with professional oversight, noted Citco.
Looking across the funds on an assets under administration basis, the $1bn-$3bn category was the top performer for the month, at 2.6%, followed closely by funds with between $500m-$1bn of AUA, at 2.5%, and the $3bn+ category at 2.3%.
Funds with less than $200m of AUA came in at 1.8%, and funds with between $200m-$500m of AUA were at 1.7%.
In total, 81% of funds had positive performance in August, with the spread between the best and worst performing funds overall at 7.3%, in line with recent months.
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