The latest Novare South African Hedge Fund Survey shows that new regulations which opened the industry to retail investors in the country is likely to have a profound impact on local funds. Current hedge fund assets in South Africa surpass R50 billion, according to the data with the bulk of that being in equity long/short funds. The South African hedge fund industry also appears to be maturing with over 75% of hedge fund managers having five years or more of experience. Like large hedge funds in the US economy, the top ten largest funds in South Africa managed 44.1% of the total industry assets.

A total of eight new funds were launched in South Africa last year, four of which were equity long/short funds. Fixed income funds saw net outflows and also decreased in overall size from 15.7% in 2013 to 11.6% in 2014. The decline is directly attributable to tepid overall performance and a few fund closures in the strategy. ( B. McCann's full article ).

Hedge funds experienced outflows in September

According to eVestment's September and Q3 2014 Hedge Fund Asset Flows Report

1) Hedge funds experienced outflows in September for the first month since December 2013. Performance losses caused the industry's first quarterly asset reduction in Q3 since Q2 2012.

2) Redemptions in September were likely the result of losses in July. The impact of September's losses may become evident in the next two to three months

3) The most noticeable deviation from recent trends in September came in the form of investor redemptions from equity-focused strategies. The universe last experienced outflows in June 2013.

According to the latest HFR Global Hedge Fund Industry Report by Hedge Fund Research, total hedge fund capital increased to a record level in the third quarter of 2014 as financial market volatility increased into quarter-end, with inflows concentrated in Event Driven and Fixed Income-based Relative Value Arbitrage strategies. Hedge fu......................

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This article was published in Opalesque's New Managers a top-down monthly analysis, news and research publication on the global emerging manager space.