LONDON (Reuters) - Hedge fund firm Man Group posted a rise in assets under management (AUM) to $161.2 billion on Thursday in Robyn Grew's first set of results as CEO, just shy of analyst expectations amid deepening turbulence in global markets and geopolitics.
The company attracted net flows of $700 million for the quarter to end-September, compared with net outflows of $500 million in the same period last year, when some of its pension fund investors fled in the wake of a crisis in liability-driven investment strategies.
Analysts had expected net flows of $800 million and AUM of $163.5 billion for the period, a company-supplied consensus showed.
Geopolitical uncertainty, volatility in currency and bond markets spurred about 4% of third quarter outflows in the wider asset management industry, a recent note by analysts at Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) showed.
But choppy bond markets buoyed the September performance of many hedge funds, an asset class Bank of America analysts expect will show more resilience.
Man's Absolute Return product line, part of the group's Alternatives unit, reported $1.1 billion in net inflows, but its multi-manager solutions products and systematic long-only products saw net outflows of $400 million and $500 million, respectively.
Its GLG Japan CoreAlpha Equity fund was among the firm's top performers over the quarter, posting returns net of fees of 8.1%, while its GLG Continental European Growth was among the weaker products, delivering -6.7%.
London-listed Man is now led by two women for the first time in its 240-year history, after long-standing CEO Luke Ellis retired in September and Anne Wade replaced veteran banker John Cryan as chair on October 1.