Hedge funds lost a total of $78.4 billion in August, according to data tracker e-Vestment, a month when most of the equity indices lost between 6 percent and 7 percent. Meanwhile, investors only pumped in a total of $10.5 billion in new money last month. As a result, total hedge fund assets declined by 2.5 percent for the month, bringing total industry-wide assets under management to $3.053 trillion.
Altogether, investors have added a total of $74.7 billion to hedge funds in the first eight months of the year, according to a new report from eVestment. This compares with $113.9 billion during the same period last year. Investors wound up redeeming $26 billion in the final four months of last year, according to the report.
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Investors continue to favor multistrategy funds. August inflows to the strategy totaled $6.6 billion, bringing the total for the year to $48.6 billion. This already exceeds the $44.4 billion that was pumped into the strategy in all of 2014.
Most of the new money is going to the largest multi-strategy funds. According to eVestment, the average size of the 20 largest multistrategy recipients is nearly $7 billion. They have raised a total of $14 billion this year.
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Macro, convertible arbitrage and managed futures endured net outflows in August. For the year, only convertible arbitrage has faced a net outflow, however. The net redemptions from managed futures funds in August came following a period of performance declines, especially in April and June, the report points out.
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Keith Meister’s Corvex Management boosted its stake in Vereit to 8.9 percent. In a regulatory filing, the New York activist firm says the shares “continue to be an attractive investment.” Vereit is the new corporate name for American Realty Capital Properties, a real estate investment trust.
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Boston-based Adage Capital Management bought 1.5 million shares of Aerie Pharmaceuticals, or 5.84 percent of the total outstanding.