Hedge fund investors hold steady despite unsettled markets: SS&C GlobeOp

[LONDON] Hedge fund investors held on in April despite a weak first quarter in which funds lost 0.63 per cent, according to SS&C GlobeOp data, although other data providers reported big outflows in the first three months of the year.

Over US$1 billion was pulled from both household-name hedge funds Tudor Investment Corp and Brevan Howard while high-profile investor New York City Employees Retirement System dumped its hedge fund investments in April.

SS&C GlobeOp's Capital Movement Index, which calculates monthly hedge fund subscriptions minus redemptions at the start of each month, gained 0.53 per cent in May after falling 1.18 per cent last month, Hedge Fund Research data showed on Wednesday.

Other data providers have yet to release April numbers but Hedge Fund Research said investors pulled out US$15.1 billion from hedge funds in the first three months of 2016, the largest quarterly outflow in seven years.

Hedge funds overall were down 0.63 per cent in the first three months of March and only pulled average returns up to 0.33 in the year to end-April, it said.

"There are certainly many stories about hedge fund withdrawals in the press," Bill Stone, chairman and chief executive officer at SS&C Technologies, told Reuters. "However, our data doesn't show a dramatic shift."

"There has been a cumulative net outflow so far this year but not too severe," said Mr Stone. However, he noted that the mix and experience of hedge fund clients for whom SS&C GlobeOp provides administration services may differ from that of other client groups.

REUTERS