More figures showing the status of hedge fund assets under management (AUM) are expected this Friday when eVestment could report a roughly $3 billion (€2.8 billion) increase.
The firm emphasised that this is a conservative estimate and 2016’s total AUM could reveal anything between a $5 billion fall, to an $11 billion increase.
Figures showing a rise in AUM would part with data from Eurekahedge yesterday, that showed hedge fund AUM had fallen in 2016 for the first time since 2008, by $21.8 billion.
Eurekahedge did not give a total AUM figure, but last year reported an industry AUM of $2.25 trillion for the end of 2015.
According to eVestment, this Friday’s mid-range figure for total AUM could be $3.032 trillion. A spokesman said it would take a “massive December redemption” for industry AUM to fall below the landmark $3 trillion.
The estimated range for 2016 AUM is estimated to be between $3.024 trillion and $3.040 trillion. Similarly, eVestment’s estimates show that investor flows may fall between net redemptions of $108 billion and $118 billion.
eVestment and Eurekahedge are both prominent providers of hedge fund data.
HFR, another significant provider, has not yet publicly released a figure for the end of the year, but according to its third quarter 2016 report, hedge fund assets in its major index had grown to $2.971 trillion, a record.
Last year generally showed a pattern of positive returns but negative net flows for hedge funds. For example, HFR reported a net withdrawal of $51.4 billion last year. This was only the fourth outflow since 1990 – the others being in 1994, 2008 (which was the largest, at $154.4 billion) and 2009.
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