The aggregate assets under management of 14 pure-play money managers reviewed by Moody's Investors Service totaled $10.13 trillion as of June 30, up 3.6% from March 31, said Moody’s quarterly update.
The AUM increase was due to positive global equities performance and outperforming emerging markets equities. Emerging markets were up 6.2% from the previous quarter, as political uncertainty in several markets subsided. Bonds also rallied 1.9% from the quarter ended March 31.
Long-term net inflows were $45.8 billion; however $38 billion of that accrued to BlackRock, of which $30.4 billion were net inflows to iShares ETFs.
Four managers — Affiliated Managers Group, Cohen & Steers, AllianceBernstein and BlackRock — saw their AUM increase by more than 4% during the quarter. AMG’s assets rose 9% due in large part to organic growth and strong investment outperformance, Moody’s said. Cohen & Steers increased 6.6% in large part because half of its assets are in real estate strategies, for which the sector index rallied 7% during the quarter. Due to strong institutional growth, market performance and the acquisition of $2.9 billion Danish equities manager CPH Capital, AllianceBernstein’s assets rose 5.7%. BlackRock’s 4.4% AUM growth, meanwhile, was driven by a 4.9% AUM increase in equities, including a 6.9% AUM increase in equity iShares.
Only Federated Investors experienced a decline in AUM, of 4%, due to a 7% decline in money market assets, which made up 70% of the firm’s asset base.
Legg Mason’s AUM increased just 0.4%. Large fixed-income exposure and outflows from money market funds, weighed on aggregate growth.
Aggregate revenue increased 3.1%, to $10.9 billion, from the previous quarter, while EBITDA increased 3.7%. The aggregate effective fee rate for the group was 34.9 basis points in the second quarter, up 0.7 basis points. Steady compensation and distribution costs let the average EBITDA margin rise 0.2% on higher revenue.
In Moody’s assessment, fundamentals within the money management business are stable and debt burdens are manageable.
