Komfie Manalo, Opalesque Asia: BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has announced plans to shut down a macro fund, Global Ascent Fund, because of "headwinds facing the industry". The hedge fund, which makes bets on stock, bond and currency markets, will return money to investors.
According to City AM, BlackRock, which runs around 3,500 funds worldwide, said in a statement, "We believe that redeeming the Global Ascent Fund was the right thing to do for our clients… Over the past several years, we have closed, on average, more than 200 funds a year."
According to a BlackRock report detailing their funds’ performance (gross) for October, Global Ascent manages $233.1m. It was up 0.29% that month, down 9.40% YTD, having returned +13% since inception in February 2003.
The fund — which as recently as two years ago had $4.6bn in AuM — is now almost completely cashed out, reported NYTimes.com. BlackRock is better known for its mutual funds and ETFs but it runs $51bn in hedge funds, including $20bn in funds of hedge funds. The Global Ascent fund was its only dedicated global macro fund.
This is the latest in a string of well-publicised fund closures this year.
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