Man Group shares slide as Q1 AUM flatlines, client pulls $6.1 billion

* Man Group AUM ​flat at $228.7 ⁠billion, missing analyst expectations

* One client withdrew $6.1 billion from ​long-only systematic equity strategy

* Volatile markets, especially after Strait of Hormuz closure, impacted hedge fund flows

LONDON, April 23 (Reuters) - Man Group shares fell on ​Thursday ‌after the company reported a client pulled $6.1 billion from one strategy in the first quarter during which total assets under management ⁠stagnated. Man Group shares fell as much as 7% in early trading ⁠in London, before recovering somewhat to show ​a near-5% loss on the day. The company's stock is still up 9% for the year so far. The company said assets under management remained largely flat at $228.7 billion, missing analyst expectations, in a quarter dominated by volatility stemming from the ​Iran war.

Investors ‌redeemed a net $1.6 billion from the overall hedge fund in the first quarter. Positive performance in several funds and other client inflows helped stem outflows. The London-listed hedge fund declined to comment on the outflows, which were the highest since 2024, when the company saw a similar chunky redemption also from a single client. Man Group's long-only fund ​performance was mixed in the first quarter, but took some losses, particularly in its Man Continental European Growth fund, ‌which at March 31 had returned a negative 10%. The consensus among analysts, according to a note from Morgan Stanley, was for the hedge fund's total assets to ‌rise to $233 billion, from the $227.6 billion it had as of December 31. Man Group said in a footnote in its sparse first-quarter update that one client had redeemed $6.1 billion from its long-only systematic equity strategy. The company declined ​to comment.

"Excluding this (one-off client withdrawal), long-only flows would have been positive, reflecting an allocation decision rather than performance," analysts at Jefferies said. "While systematic long-only ‌flows were weak this quarter, they have historically been lumpy (in both directions)."

Man Group's long-only credit strategies, which posted a flat performance, had net inflows of $2.2 billion, against a backdrop of concern among global investors about the health of private credit ⁠this year.

Hedge funds ⁠globally have been whipsawed by volatile trading since the closure of the ‌Strait of Hormuz in early March that has choked off a fifth of the world's daily energy supplies, clouding the global economic outlook and ​prompting recession fears. This has meant ​mixed performance for different hedge fund strategies so far this year. Systematic hedge ‌funds, whose algorithms ride market trends until they peter out, were up on average over 7% so far this year in to end-March, according to Societe Generale.

Hedge funds tracked by research firm PivotalPath, which covers the wider industry, returned roughly 1% in the same period.

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