Man funds down 4% in Q3

15th Jan 2010 07:04

Man Group suffered a 4% drop in funds under management during the third quarter, mainly due to the $1.2bn pulled out of its flagship AHL fund.Funds under Management (FUM) at 31 December slipped to $42.4bn from $44bn at the end of September, traditionally a quiet period for sales. Man said the negative movement at AHL reflected difficult trading conditions for managed futures strategies particularly in December.Institutional redemptions of $1.4bn over the three months resulted in an institutional net outflow of $1bn, driven by profit taking in convertibles and distressed styles. That was on top of a smaller net outflow of $0.1bn for private investors. The overall $1.1bn outflow compares with forecasts for an inflow.'Trading conditions remained difficult for trend-following strategies such as AHL, with gains in stock indices and metals more than offset by sudden market reversals in currencies and bonds,' said Man. 'These conditions meant that investment movement had no impact on institutional FUM in the quarter, and generated a negative movement of $1.2bn in private investor FUM.'But chief executive Peter Clarke says the company's new managed account business is seeing continued high levels of interest from institutional investors and it's just been selected by a large pension fund as the preferred provider for a mandate worth as much as $1bn.The deal will be for a minimum of three years with allocations beginning in the first quarter of this year.'With a promising outlook for hedge fund flows and significant recent progress in our managed account business, Man remains very well placed to grow assets,' Clarke said.