LONDON - Clients continued to withdraw money from Man Group, the world’s largest publicly-traded hedge fund, in the final quarter of last year, raising the stakes for the new chief executive Manny Roman to win back investors.
Man Group’s funds had $2.7 billion of net outflows in the three months to Dec. 31, the sixth quarter of outflows in a row. Assets under management fell to $57 billion at the end of December, the company said in a statement on Thursday.
“2012 was another tough year for Man,†Mr. Roman said in the statement. “Trading conditions were highly challenging as markets continued to be dominated by political uncertainties in Europe and the U.S. and macroeconomic risks. Investor appetite remained muted.â€
Mr. Roman also said “business conditions remain very toughâ€, adding that “sales are likely to remain muted in the first half and we are yet to see a slow down in the rate of redemptions.â€
The outflows weighed on profit. Man Group reported a loss of $75 million for last year compared with a profit of $187 million in the year earlier because it took an impairment charge for the acquisition of hedge fund firm GLG Partners in 2010.
To help attract client funds and fix a disappointing performance, Man Group named a new chief for its flagship AHL fund. Sandy Rattray, who ran Man Group’s Systematic Strategies business, took over from Tim Wong as AHL chief executive earlier this month.
In a separate statement late on Wednesday, Man Group said it suspended a GLG employee, who was arrested by the Financial Services Authority, the British regulator, as part of an insider trading investigation. Man Group said it was informed by the F.S.A. that the investigation concerns private actions by the person, who was one of three people arrested in London yesterday.
Man’s shares fell 2.4 percent in afternoon trading in London on Thursday.
