British hedge fund Man Group says assets fell 11.5% in Q1

By Maiya Keidan

LONDON (Reuters) - British hedge fund manager Man Group <EMG.L> said on Friday that its funds under management fell 11.5% to $104.2 billion in the first quarter as the novel coronavirus hit global markets.

Man Group said the firm lost $10.7 billion on negative investment performance and $3.3 billion from currency and other movements.

The firm's long-only computer-driven and discretionary strategies, which bet on stocks rising, suffered the most during the quarter, losing $10 billion in investment movement and another $1.1 billion in outflows.

Three of Man's computer-driven long-only strategies were down more than 20% for the three months to March 31.

Man's worst-performing fund, the Man GLG Undervalued Assets fund, another long-only strategy, lost 34.5% over the period.

Out of 17 funds, Man said 13 had lost money and four had eked out positive returns, with the top-performing fund, a debt fund, making 10.1%.

The hedge fund firm, which had $117.7 billion in assets at December 31, took in $500 million in new investor money during the period.

Alternative strategies were helped by $1.6 billion of inflows, with $400 million into Man AHL multi-strategy funds, while long-only saw $1.1 billion in investor cash flee.

Man Group CEO Luke Ellis said that the group's balance sheet remained strong and it was planning to proceed with its announced dividend and share buyback plans.

(This story corrects outflows in third paragraph from $1.4 billion to $1.1. billion and updates fund numbers in paragraphs 4 and 6.

(Reporting by Maiya Keidan; Editing by Rachel Armstrong)