Investors redeemed at estimated USD12.11 billion from the global hedge fund industry in September 2019, bringing year to date (YTD) flows to -USD76.86 billion, according to the September 2019 eVestment Hedge Fund Asset Flows Report.
The total Q3 2019 outflows of -USD29.37 billion marked the sixth consecutive quarterly outflow for the industry. Total hedge fund industry AUM stood at USD3.266 trillion at the end of September, according to the new report.
Among primary hedge fund strategies, the best asset flows news was among Relative Value Credit funds, which pulled in +USD2.78 billion in September, and Managed Futures funds, which pulled in +USD2.35 billion in September. And while Relative Value Credit funds are just barely in the green for asset flows this year, Managed Futures funds are deeply in the red at -USD8.68 billion for 2019, which follows on a large -USD19.33 billion outflow in 2018.
While Event Driven funds barely eked out positive asset flows in September, with investors adding +USD830 million to these funds, they’ve been big asset flow winners for the year, pulling in +USD13.26 billion in new money.
MBS Strategies were also just barely in the green for asset flows in September, pulling in +USD110 million and enjoying YTD flows of +USD6.43 billion.
Long/Short Equity funds were the big asset losers among primary strategies in September, seeing outflows of -USD5.73 billion last month. These funds are also deeply in the red for the year, with investors removing -USD36.39 billion YTD. Although with AUM at USD760.64 billion, they’re the largest primary strategy eVestment tracks.
Multi-Strategy funds also saw elevated outflows in September at -USD5.56 billion.
With hedge fund performance being largely positive so far this year, eVestment Global Head of Research Peter Laurelli sees these asset flow trends as pointing to potential consolidation in the industry. He notes that while on average the outflows look daunting, many funds that are performing well are finding investors willing to invest new money
