A new report suggests that investors have abandoned macro funds in 2013 as higher-risk alternatives proved to be more profitable.
The hedge fund flows report was carried out by investment analysis firm eVestment. The report covers trends in the hedge fund industry for the whole of 2013.
The report finds that investors illustrated their disapproval of macro fund’s 2013 performance with their largest monthly redemptions since December 2008, and that macro and managed futures fund redemptions were the primary reason hedge fund flows were negative in December.
Although it has been a strong year for hedge fund flows, the report finds that there have been many forward redemptions. Redemptions from macro funds were larger than at any other point since December 2008. This dropped the group’s 2013 net flows back into negative territory for the year.
Macro strategies produced asset weighted returns of 3.7 percent in 2013, well above their equal weighted average of 3 percent, which eVestment attributes to relative outperformance by larger funds.
Performance added $190.1 billion to industry assets under management in 2013. When combined with investor inflows there was an overall increase of $262 billion, or 10.1 percent, the industry’s biggest asset increase in three years.
Event driven and distressed strategies took in a combined $14.9 billion in 2013. Activists, which had the segment’s best average returns in 2013, accounted for a disproportionately large amount of the segment’s flows.
