Hedge fund performance continued its gains in August, with asset servicer Citco reporting a weighted average return of 2.3%, bringing year-to-date gains to 14.1%, led by global macro funds.
Overall, 81% of funds generated positive returns in August. Global macro funds saw a 3.1% return, followed by equity strategies at 2.8% and multi-strategy funds at 2.1%.
Fixed income arbitrage delivered 0.9%, commodities 0.8% and event driven strategies 0.7%. On an assets under administration (AuA) basis, funds in the $1 billion–$3 billion category outperformed at 2.6%, ahead of $500 million–$1 billion funds (2.5%) and the $3 billion+ cohort (2.3%). Smaller funds lagged, with sub-$200 million vehicles posting 1.8%.
Capital flows slowed compared with July but remained positive. Net inflows totalled $4 billion, driven by $11.2 billion of subscriptions against $7.2 billion of redemptions.
Hedge fund performance dips in July but inflows positive
Hybrid funds saw $1 billion of inflows, fund of funds added $0.6 billion and global macro attracted $0.5 billion. Arbitrage strategies were flat, while equities recorded $1.1 billion in outflows.
Smaller funds led in asset gathering, with the ones in the $1 billion–$5 billion AuA bracket pulling in $2.2 billion and sub-$1 billion funds adding $0.9 billion. The largest funds ( over $10 billion) ended up with $0.6 billion in net inflows.
Regionally, inflows were concentrated in the Americas ($3.1 billion) and Europe ($1.9 billion), while Asia recorded $1 billion in net outflows.
