Man Group's assets under management increased 8.1% to $78.8 billion in the six months ended June 30, bolstered by acquisitions and investment performance over the period.
Assets increased 0.9% in the three months ended June 30 and 36.6% in the past 12 months.
The acquisitions of Silvermine Capital, NewSmith and Bank of America Merrill Lynch's fund-of-hedge-funds business, completed in the first half of the year, added $6.1 billion to assets under management in the six-month period. Investment performance added $3.8 billion, said Man Group's half-year report, published Wednesday.
The firm suffered net outflows of $2.6 billion in the six months, compared with net inflows of $2.8 billion over the first six months of 2014. Negative foreign exchange and other movements totaled $1.4 billion, vs. a $100 million positive effect for the comparative period in 2014.
In a conference call to discuss the half-year report, CEO Emmanuel "Manny" Roman said the second quarter saw volatility return to the markets, affecting the performance of momentum-based strategies. He said the year started well across markets, but April was a turning point for behavior, with concerns over Greece's potential exit from the eurozone causing a sell-off in European bond markets. Greece's debt repayment date at the end of June also affected currency and equity markets, he added.
Mr. Roman said flows for the first six months were skewed in particular by $3.4 billion of net outflows from its Japan CoreAlpha strategy, with some investors choosing to redeem their funds “following a long period of strong absolute and relative performance.” That strategy was up 23% over the period, vs. a benchmark gain of 6%; the benchmark was not specified.
“Markets remain very challenging and, accordingly, we remain cautious in our outlook for the remainder of the year,” said Mr. Roman in a statement accompanying the half-year report.
