Introduction
The Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index posted its fifth consecutive month of gains for 2015 and was up 0.54% in May1 while underlying markets as represented by the MSCI World Index2gained 0.81% during the month. On a year-to-date basis, hedge funds are up 4.49% with Asian managers leading the tables with gains of 11.44%.
Final asset flow figures for April revealed that managers reported performance-based gains of US$1.0 billion while recording net asset inflows of US$14.1 billion. Preliminary data for May shows that managers have posted performance-based gains of US$4.5 billion while recording net inflows of US$5.8 billion, bringing the current assets under management (AUM) of the global hedge fund industry to a total of US$2.23 trillion – almost US$85.2 billion higher than the record US$2.14 trillion reported last year.
Figure 1: Summary monthly asset flow data since January 2012
Key highlights for May 2015:
- Hedge fund assets under management have increased by US$92 billion in the first five months of 2015, with one-third of this increase coming from new investor allocations. Total industry AUM stands at a record high of US$2.23 trillion.
- Asia ex-Japan investing funds have delivered the best 2015 year-to-date returns globally, returning 15.0% and have grown their asset based by US$15.4 billion since the start of the year, bringing the region's current AUM to a record high of US$159.8 billion.
- European hedge funds are up 5.54% year-to-date, following dismal gains of 0.56% in 2014. Total assets under management have increased by US$20.1 billion since the start of the year helped by US$7.4 billion in new investor allocations.
- Long/short equities hedge funds performed the best for May and 2015 year-to-date across all strategic mandates reporting 1.47% and 7.31% respectively.
- North American managers lead in terms of year to date net investor inflows recording US$17.5 billion in new allocations, about half the level seen for the same period last year.
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