Hedge fund investors pulled money from most strategies in Europe last month, but continued to allocate new money to global macro, which again defied the muted wider appetite for hedge funds.
The European global macro space grew 2.1% on the back of investor flows movement, more than any other strategy. It was the fifth consecutive month of net inflows for funds trading on macro-economic themes, with investors returning to the strategy amid higher volatility and rising rates.
Global macro performance was positive, albeit with a significant dispersion of return. Jorge Pepa’s Adar Marco Fund rose 4.8% while M&G’s Episode fund rose 3.2% last month, but both remain in negative territory for the year so far.
Brevan Howard’s flagship was flat but remains up 10.3% for the year, while the ADG Systematic Macro Fund and BTG Pactual Global Emerging Markets and Macro Fund both lost ground last month.
Across all strategies, performance was roughly flat in September.
Investors pulled cash from commodities funds, the strategy in Europe contracting 1.5% on negative flows. That came during a month in which the strategy soared as energy markets drove upward, with the group increasing in size by a tenth on better performance.
Emerging market equity and debt managers in Europe saw outflows. European equity contracted 1.6%, while fixed income lost 3.5% of assets due to redemptions.
Only two strategies lost more cash: equity market neutral & quantitative strategies, and volatility trading. The latter’s decline amounted to 6.3% of assets in a single month, suggesting a lack of confidence among investors in volatility managers to flourish even in more volatile times.
Aside from global macro, event-driven was the most popular strategy in Europe last month, growing 1.2% as investors committed fresh capital. Performance within the strategy was neatly distributed in the dollar share class between CFP Opportunity, the top riser with a 2.5% monthly gain, and Anavio Capital, which lost the most at 2.6%.
Recent EuroHedge Award winners and event-driven managers Copper Street Capital and Tosca Opportunity made 2.4% and 1.6%, respectively.
-
September flows watch: Most strategies see outflows amid flat month on EuroHedge.