Introduction
The Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index fell into negative territory this month, down 1.81% in August 20151 , though outperforming underlying markets as represented by the MSCI World Index2 which was down 6.66% during the month. Returns across all regional mandates were dented this month as investors grew cautious of the uncertain economic outlook.
Final asset flow figures for July revealed that managers reported performance-based gains of US$11.0 billion while recording net asset inflows of US$2.9 billion. Preliminary data for August shows that managers have posted performance-based losses of US$20.2 billion while recording net inflows of US$4.8 billion, bringing the current assets under management (AUM) of the global hedge fund industry to a total of US$2.23 trillion, with asset growth totalling US$91.8 billion as of August 2015.
Figure 1: Summary monthly asset flow data since January 2012
Key highlights for August 2015:
- Hedge funds preserved gains to outperform underlying markets by 4.85% in August. On a year-to-date basis, hedge funds are up 1.29% while the MSCI World Index is down 1.90%, translating into an outperformance of 3.19% for the year.
- Hedge fund assets under management increased by US$91.8 billion in the first eight months of 2015, with US$60.1 billion of investor inflows accounting for more than half of this gain.
- Asia ex-Japan hedge funds lost 5.12% in August as Greater China counters were among the hardest hit — down 8.57%.
- European managers grew their asset base by roughly 6% in the first eight months of 2015, on the back of strong investor inflows totaling US$21.7 billion.
- CTA/managed futures strategies have seen the highest year-to-date inflows among all strategic mandates, with net inflows of US$29.0 billion.
- Among developed market investment mandates, Australia/New Zealand, Japan and European dedicated hedge fund managers lead with gains of 5.89%, 4.99% and 4.00% respectively as of 2015 year-to-date.
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