Hedge Funds’ Assets and Appetite Seen Growing

Date: Monday, March 17, 2014
Author: John D'Antona Jr., Tradersmagazine

Hedge funds’ assets under management and their appetite for investments, including equities, are expected to grow this year, according to a new survey.

Credit Suisse released its sixth annual Hedge Fund Investor Survey, titled “Onwards and Upwards,” in which more than 500 respondents participated, representing $1.16 trillion of hedge fund investments. Their responses were analyzed on a number of topics, including:

• Growth and return prospects for the industry

• Strategy preference and allocations plans

• Appetite for day-one investments and new launches

Robert Leonard, managing director and global head of capital services at Credit Suisse commented:

“Having forecast the strong rate of growth in the hedge fund industry in 2013, institutional investors predicted hedge fund industry assets under management to grow even faster this year by an average of 12 percent, to reach an all-time high of $2.8 trillion, with an upper quartile forecast of $3 trillion. If accurate, this updated forecast would mean at least an additional $300 billion for the industry in 2014, coming from both performance and new capital inflows. Investors were also more optimistic about performance of the overall hedge fund industry, increasing their expectations for returns this year.

“In this year’s survey, we witnessed some dramatic swings in investor preferences, such as the increase in appetite for event-driven strategies, while interest in emerging markets strategies declined. Additionally, there were also strong shifts along regional lines, as investors indicated a higher level of interest in both Europe and Japan. At the same time, investors are also cognizant of potential issues such as capacity constraints and a crowded trading environment that could affect the industry in the coming year.”

The survey, produced by Credit Suisse’s Capital Services Group, is one of the most comprehensive in the industry, with more than 500 respondents—including pension funds, endowments, consultants, family offices and funds of hedge funds—and with respondents diversified across all regions.

Key highlights from the Credit Suisse annual Hedge Fund Investor Survey:

• Interest in event driven strategies reflected the greatest year-on-year increase in demand, nearly doubling from the prior year. More strikingly, none of our respondents expect to decrease their allocations to the strategy, reflecting a unanimous vote of confidence. This level of increased interest was matched in magnitude only by the drop in appetite for emerging markets, which fell precipitously.

• The notably positive momentum for equity long/short continued for a second year, as investors cite significant ongoing interest, pointing to an environment ripe for stock selection with decreased correlations and higher dispersions of returns.

• Despite modest returns for the past two years, global macro continues to remain relevant. It was forecast to be among the top three best-performing strategies in 2014, and demand for discretionary macro stood out in particular as an area of focus for investors this year.

• When asked about the impact of fee reductions, investors cited a strong preference for management fee discounts to incentive fee discounts by a magnitude of three to one. The inclusion of hurdle rates was also highlighted by a third of investors as their preferred fee structure incentive.

• In terms of regional preferences, developed Europe (43 percent) and Japan (33 percent) were the clear winners, with the largest net demand from investors going into this year. North American strategies also enjoyed a positive view from investors with 15 percent net demand, up marginally from the 2013 survey. The view on emerging markets was less positive, with only 10 percent net demand, reflecting a notable decline from the 42 percent demand cited in last year’s survey.

• Additionally, equity long/short sector funds made a strong showing in this year’s survey. In particular, both TMT and financials appeared in the top 10 strategies ranked by net demand. Other sectors showing positive, though lesser, net demand included consumer/retail, real estate and utilities.

• Investors continue to show strong, though selective, appetite for those new hedge funds launches deemed to be of institutional quality. Terms appear to be real game changers in this space, as 40 percent of investors are open to investing in a new fund with a founder’s share class, while only 11 percent indicated interest in a seed investment with economic interests and a fewer 6 percent would be a day-one investor without any economic concessions.

• Investors anticipate potential capacity constraints to develop, as some fund managers return money or close to new capital, while others decide to leave the business completely. Some respondents also indicated that this could be an opportunity for newer and midsize funds to raise additional capital this year.

• There has also been a shift in investors’ top concerns: Regulation dropped from a top-two concern last year to fifth this year, perhaps in part because investors feel managers have incorporated many of the recent regulations into their business models.

• Taking its place this year, investors cited crowded trades/herd behavior, risk complacency and funds chasing equity markets as being their top three concerns. Crowded trades retained their place as the top concern of investors from last year, and investors appear to be indicating that market measures of risk may not reflect true risk, having added risk complacency this year.

• The size of funds continues to be a factor in allocations—with the percentage that can invest capital to funds of more than $100 million twice those who can allocate to those under $50 million. Therefore, $100 million still seems like a key benchmark, at least for many investors.