Ashmore Group’s assets under management fell 7.5% for the six months ended June 30 and dropped 21.5% over the 12-month period, to $58.9 billion.
However, the specialist emerging markets money manager said in a financial update that investment performance improved in the six months ended June 30, as more risk was added into its investment processes during a period of market weakness. The update said 60% of its assets under management outperformed benchmarks over three years, and 81% outperformed over five years.
All of Ashmore’s investment strategies saw their AUM decrease for both the six months and year ended June 30.
External debt AUM fell 14.3% to $12 billion over the year, and 3.2% over the six-month period. Corporate debt fell 13.4% over the year to $7.2 billion, and was down 2.7% over the six months. Blended debt recorded a 12.8% drop over the last six months and a 23.8% decrease in AUM over the year to $15.7 billion. Equities fell 37.7% to $3.8 billion over the year and 11.6% over the six months. Alternatives dropped 68% over the year, to $800 million, and 38.5% over the six months. Multistrategy fell 40.7% to $1.6 billion and 20% over the six months. Overlay/liquidity strategies AUM dropped to $2.6 billion — a fall of 27.8% over the year ended June 30, and was flat over the six-month period. All of these strategies experienced negative performance effects, and net outflows, over the year ended June 30. Net flows over the six-month period were not available.
Local currency strategies, however, recorded $300 million of net inflows over the year. However, the strategy still experienced a fall in assets under management of 12.1% over the year and 3.2% over the six-month period, to $12 billion.
“Sentiment toward emerging markets continues to be influenced by global macro factors such as the timing of the first U.S. rate increase and China’s international rebalancing of its economy,” said CEO Mark Coombs in a statement accompanying the update. “Yet the fundamentals across the emerging markets universe, comprising more than 70 countries and a diverse range of asset classes, remain sound, with economies demonstrating their ability to withstand notable challenges of the past few years such as higher funding costs, lower commodity prices, currency devaluations and major electoral cycles.”
