Gaurdian.co.uk – Hedge fund group Man has jumped 9% despite clients continuing to withdraw cash, after it announced a debt restructuring.
News that it was using around $470m of surplus cash to buy back debt and save $78m a year overshadowed a $3.7bn outflow of funds in the first quarter. The company has taken advantage of a change in its regulatory status, which gave a $550m boost to the surplus cash it is required to hold. Hence the debt restructuring.
Its shares have climbed 9.5p to 115.8p, with investors also cheered by a better performance from its key AHL product, which has gained 10.4% so far this year.
Ahead of its annual meeting later on Friday, new chief executive Manny Roman said Man had seen a solid performance across its three main divisions, as the market environment stabilised. But he added: “This was a disappointing quarter from a flows perspective with sales at a similar level to the previous quarter and increased redemptions, chiefly due to the loss of three sizeable low margin mandates. We remain cautious in our outlook as we will need a more sustained period of performance, particularly from AHL, before we see an improvement in net flows.”
