Man Group unveils £491m loss

Date: Friday, March 1, 2013
Author: Ben Harrington, The Telegraph

Man Group capped a disastrous year as the hedge fund group unveiled a $745m (£491m) loss and confirmed that one of its employees had been arrested on suspicion of insider trading.

The world's second largest hedge fund manager by assets blamed the loss on a writedown of goodwill at GLG, the investment firm Man bought for $1.6bn in 2010.

Emmanuel "Manny" Roman – the former GLG boss, who was named as Man's chief executive in December – also said that funds under management had fallen by $1.4bn during 2012 to $57bn.

Man added that fund outflows had continued since the year end. As of February 25, assets under management fell further to $55bn. Redemptions in 2012 totalled $20.1bn but the company generated new sales of $12.8bn.

Man shares fell 2.1 to 100.8p, though investors were cheered as pre-tax profits of $278m beat analyst expectations.Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada said: "Man managed to increase its revenue yield and instilled cost discipline well-ahead of expectations."

News of the figures came as the trader arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of insider dealing was revealed to be Man employee Carl Esprey. Mr Esprey joined Man in January 2008 as a portfolio manager, having previously worked in BHP Billiton's corporate finance department. He has not been charged.

Man said that the arrest related to the employee's actions "as a private individual and not as employee of Man or GLG".

The arrest was one of three made.