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发信人: dmjz (东门虎西门豹), 信区: Stock
标 题: The Year the Hedge-Fund Model Stalled on Main Street
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Wed Dec 30 21:38:33 2015, 美东)
The Year the Hedge-Fund Model Stalled on Main Street
By Sarah Krouse
Dec. 30, 2015 6:59 p.m. ET
Enthusiasm is fading for what had become one of the hottest products in
asset management
It is getting a lot harder to sell hedge-fund-style investing to the masses.
More “liquid alternative” mutual funds closed in 2015 than in any year on
record, according to research firm Morningstar Inc., as inflows dwindled and
performance weakened.
The results show that enthusiasm is fading for what had emerged in recent
years as one of the hottest products in asset management—funds that combine
hedge-fund strategies like shorting stock with the daily liquidity of
mutual funds.
In all, 31 liquid-alternative funds have been closed this year, up from 22 a
year earlier, according to Morningstar.
The host of funds liquidated this year included strategies run by J.P.
Morgan Asset Management and Guggenheim Partners LLC. The closed funds were a
range of unconstrained bond funds; managed future funds, which bet on
futures contracts in a number of markets; and equity funds that bet on
stocks rising and falling.
The shutdowns were capped by hedge-fund firm Whitebox Advisors LLC, which in
mid-December announced plans to liquidate three funds, ending its
experiment with Main Street investors.
“You had so many funds that were launched in the last couple of years and
hadn’t really been tested by market volatility and you’re starting to see
the cracks in them,” said Jason Kephart, an analyst at Morningstar.
J.P. Morgan representatives declined to comment. Guggenheim representatives
couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Fund companies aggressively pitched liquid-alternative products, saying they
could help protect investors from volatility and offer better returns.
Assets in liquid-alternative funds grew to $310.33 billion at the end of
2014 from $124.44 billion at the end of 2010. But the inflows have slowed as
performance faltered this year.
The average liquid-alternative fund was down 1.64% this year through the end
of November, compared with losses of 0.38% for the average actively managed
stock fund and 0.5% for the average actively managed bond fund. Just $85.1
million has flowed into liquid-alternative funds this year, down from $37.7
billion in 2014, according to Morningstar.
The slowdown is a blow to the money-management industry. Fund companies
latched onto liquid-alternative funds because they brought in a new source
of fees at a time when an increasing number of investors had been pouring
money into low-cost, index-tracking products.
The average annual fee for liquid-alternative funds is 1.691%, compared with
1.205% for open-end mutual funds and 0.892% for index funds, according to
Morningstar.
The MainStay Marketfield Fund, managed by Michael Aronstein, exemplifies the
sector’s struggles. Started in 2007, MainStay Marketfield rose quickly to
become the largest liquid-alternative mutual fund, with $21.5 billion of
assets at its peak in February 2014, according to Morningstar. But the fund
has been hit by poor performance and heavy withdrawals since then. It had $2
.9 billion in assets at the end of November.
A spokeswoman for the fund declined to comment.
A number of private-equity and hedge-fund firms also seized on an
opportunity to attract assets from individual investors using a mutual-fund
structure. Carlyle Group LP, KKR & Co., Blackstone Group LP and AQR Capital
Management LLC are among the alternative asset managers that have launched
mutual funds in recent years.
Ronen Israel, a principal at AQR, said the firm’s liquid-alternative
strategies are designed to deliver returns that are uncorrelated with the
performance of traditional equity or bond markets.
“It doesn’t mean it’s always going to make money,” Mr. Israel said. “It
could make good money in a bad market or a bad return in a good market.”
Several AQR liquid-alternative funds were top performers this year in
categories tracked by Morningstar. Mr. Israel said the strategies hold a
wide range of long and short positions that helped the firm avoid heavy
market volatility that hurt others.
While liquid-alternative funds can produce healthy returns, fund analysts
say they often have more highly concentrated bets and expose investors to
riskier assets than typical mutual funds do. That means losses can be
greater.
For example, among liquid-alternative funds that take long and short
positions in stocks, the difference between this year’s top and bottom
performers is stark: The AQR Long-Short Equity fund, with $547 million in
assets, according to the firm, is up 18.87% year to date while Morningstar
says the CMG Long/Short A fund, with $6.4 million in assets, is down 27.53%.
Michael Hee, a portfolio manager at the CMG Capital Management Group Inc.
fund, said the firm made changes to the CMG fund’s strategy in November
such as removing the use of leverage in the fund and trading securities less
frequently.
“It no longer follows the quantitative process it had been that got us to
that dubious distinction of dwelling in the cellar of the equity long-short
category,” he said.
Minneapolis-based Whitebox in January will liquidate three liquid-
alternative funds that collectively held more than $300 million. The firm
cited poor performance, accelerating redemption requests that could leave
remaining investors heavily exposed to hard-to-sell assets, and a desire to
focus on the firm’s hedge fund strategies. The Whitebox Tactical
Opportunities fund, one of the three set for liquidation, was down 21% this
year.
Write to Sarah Krouse at [email protected]
/* */
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-year-the-hedge-fund-model-stall
发信人: dmjz (东门虎西门豹), 信区: Stock
标 题: The Year the Hedge-Fund Model Stalled on Main Street
发信站: BBS 未名空间站 (Wed Dec 30 21:38:33 2015, 美东)
The Year the Hedge-Fund Model Stalled on Main Street
By Sarah Krouse
Dec. 30, 2015 6:59 p.m. ET
Enthusiasm is fading for what had become one of the hottest products in
asset management
It is getting a lot harder to sell hedge-fund-style investing to the masses.
More “liquid alternative” mutual funds closed in 2015 than in any year on
record, according to research firm Morningstar Inc., as inflows dwindled and
performance weakened.
The results show that enthusiasm is fading for what had emerged in recent
years as one of the hottest products in asset management—funds that combine
hedge-fund strategies like shorting stock with the daily liquidity of
mutual funds.
In all, 31 liquid-alternative funds have been closed this year, up from 22 a
year earlier, according to Morningstar.
The host of funds liquidated this year included strategies run by J.P.
Morgan Asset Management and Guggenheim Partners LLC. The closed funds were a
range of unconstrained bond funds; managed future funds, which bet on
futures contracts in a number of markets; and equity funds that bet on
stocks rising and falling.
The shutdowns were capped by hedge-fund firm Whitebox Advisors LLC, which in
mid-December announced plans to liquidate three funds, ending its
experiment with Main Street investors.
“You had so many funds that were launched in the last couple of years and
hadn’t really been tested by market volatility and you’re starting to see
the cracks in them,” said Jason Kephart, an analyst at Morningstar.
J.P. Morgan representatives declined to comment. Guggenheim representatives
couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
Fund companies aggressively pitched liquid-alternative products, saying they
could help protect investors from volatility and offer better returns.
Assets in liquid-alternative funds grew to $310.33 billion at the end of
2014 from $124.44 billion at the end of 2010. But the inflows have slowed as
performance faltered this year.
The average liquid-alternative fund was down 1.64% this year through the end
of November, compared with losses of 0.38% for the average actively managed
stock fund and 0.5% for the average actively managed bond fund. Just $85.1
million has flowed into liquid-alternative funds this year, down from $37.7
billion in 2014, according to Morningstar.
The slowdown is a blow to the money-management industry. Fund companies
latched onto liquid-alternative funds because they brought in a new source
of fees at a time when an increasing number of investors had been pouring
money into low-cost, index-tracking products.
The average annual fee for liquid-alternative funds is 1.691%, compared with
1.205% for open-end mutual funds and 0.892% for index funds, according to
Morningstar.
The MainStay Marketfield Fund, managed by Michael Aronstein, exemplifies the
sector’s struggles. Started in 2007, MainStay Marketfield rose quickly to
become the largest liquid-alternative mutual fund, with $21.5 billion of
assets at its peak in February 2014, according to Morningstar. But the fund
has been hit by poor performance and heavy withdrawals since then. It had $2
.9 billion in assets at the end of November.
A spokeswoman for the fund declined to comment.
A number of private-equity and hedge-fund firms also seized on an
opportunity to attract assets from individual investors using a mutual-fund
structure. Carlyle Group LP, KKR & Co., Blackstone Group LP and AQR Capital
Management LLC are among the alternative asset managers that have launched
mutual funds in recent years.
Ronen Israel, a principal at AQR, said the firm’s liquid-alternative
strategies are designed to deliver returns that are uncorrelated with the
performance of traditional equity or bond markets.
“It doesn’t mean it’s always going to make money,” Mr. Israel said. “It
could make good money in a bad market or a bad return in a good market.”
Several AQR liquid-alternative funds were top performers this year in
categories tracked by Morningstar. Mr. Israel said the strategies hold a
wide range of long and short positions that helped the firm avoid heavy
market volatility that hurt others.
While liquid-alternative funds can produce healthy returns, fund analysts
say they often have more highly concentrated bets and expose investors to
riskier assets than typical mutual funds do. That means losses can be
greater.
For example, among liquid-alternative funds that take long and short
positions in stocks, the difference between this year’s top and bottom
performers is stark: The AQR Long-Short Equity fund, with $547 million in
assets, according to the firm, is up 18.87% year to date while Morningstar
says the CMG Long/Short A fund, with $6.4 million in assets, is down 27.53%.
Michael Hee, a portfolio manager at the CMG Capital Management Group Inc.
fund, said the firm made changes to the CMG fund’s strategy in November
such as removing the use of leverage in the fund and trading securities less
frequently.
“It no longer follows the quantitative process it had been that got us to
that dubious distinction of dwelling in the cellar of the equity long-short
category,” he said.
Minneapolis-based Whitebox in January will liquidate three liquid-
alternative funds that collectively held more than $300 million. The firm
cited poor performance, accelerating redemption requests that could leave
remaining investors heavily exposed to hard-to-sell assets, and a desire to
focus on the firm’s hedge fund strategies. The Whitebox Tactical
Opportunities fund, one of the three set for liquidation, was down 21% this
year.
Write to Sarah Krouse at [email protected]
/* */
http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-year-the-hedge-fund-model-stall
