Ashmore Group's assets under management increased 7.1% for the quarter and 9% for the year ended March 31 to $55.9 billion, with the firm experiencing net inflows for the first time since mid-2014.
The emerging markets specialist said net inflows totaled $1.4 billion for the quarter vs. $700 million in net outflows for the previous quarter and $1.1 billion in net outflows for the quarter ended March 31, 2016. Ashmore has recorded net outflows or flat results since June 30, 2014.
Net inflows were driven by increased investments from both new and existing clients, said a financial update Tuesday. The firm also saw reduced redemptions, said the update.
A number of Ashmore's strategies recorded net inflows, including overlay/liquidity, external corporate and blended debt strategies. Overlay/liquidity assets increased 33.3% for the quarter and 54.8% for the year, to $4.8 billion. External debt strategy assets grew 13.2% for the quarter and 17.3% for the year, to $12.9 billion; and local currency strategy assets increased 8.9% for the quarter and 3.1% for the year, to total $13.5 billion. Corporate debt also experienced net inflows, pushing assets in these strategies to $5.5 billion, up 5.8% for the quarter and 19.6% for the year. Details on net inflows were not available.
Flows into equity and alternatives strategies were flat, said the statement. Assets in equity strategies increased 6.9% over the three months to $3.1 billion and were flat for the year. Alternatives strategies fell slightly to $1.4 billion, down from $1.5 billion as of Dec. 31 and a year earlier.
The money management firm saw net outflows in blended debt and multiasset strategies. Blended debt strategies recorded a 3.5% decrease over the quarter and a 0.7% drop for the year, to $13.6 billion. Multiasset strategies were flat for the quarter and down 8.3% for the year, to $1.1 billion.
“Ashmore delivered the anticipated return to net inflows this quarter, generated from a diverse range of existing and new clients, and the group's investment processes are continuing to deliver strong performance over one, three and five years,” said CEO Mark Coombs in the update. “The outperformance of emerging markets reflects accelerating economic growth and attractive absolute and relative valuations across emerging markets equity and fixed-income markets. This increases the pressure on investors to address their underweight allocations.”
