Hedge Funds 2012 Inflows Total

Hedge Funds 2012 Inflows Total

Hedge Funds Look to Beat 2011 Net Inflows

Hedge funds have maintained and even tightened their grip on investors' wallets in 2012, after last year's impressive inflows.  Hedge funds are on pace for inflows to outstrip 2011 by almost $10 billion, at $33 billion for the year.  This is an encouraging sign for the industry as it suggests a strong vote of confidence from many limited partners going forward.
According to Atlanta-based data provider eVestment, investors added an estimated net $6.6bn to hedge funds in November, reversing the previous month’s net outflows and bringing net investor inflows to $33.4bn for 2012, almost $10bn ahead of the 2011 full-year net inflow. 
Industry assets are now at $2.589 trillion, still 13% below the record high set in the second quarter of 2008, according to eVestment. 

But hedge funds are set to underperform equity markets for the fourth consecutive year, albeit with much less volatility, according to Hedge Fund Research – the average hedge fund gained 4.89% for the year to November 30.  

The S&P 500 was up 14.94% over the same period, while the MSCI World is up 13% for the year-to-date.
Equity hedge and event-driven strategies have outperformed the average, while global macro and managed futures strategies have largely underperformed, according to HFR. A bright spot has been credit: the average relative-value fund is up 9.54% in the first 11 months of this year, while asset-backed funds are up 15.93%. Emerging markets hedge funds are up 6.31% this year, according to HFR. 
eVestment’s report said that allocation trends in November were similar to what the industry has experienced for much of the year: “Credit funds accounted for the lion’s share of inflows, while equity, emerging markets and managed futures flows were negative. Macro strategies continued to receive net inflows despite mediocre aggregate returns.”  Source

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