Data from With Intelligence reveals that hedge funds faced a challenging half-year during H1 2022 as geopolitical and macro-economic events sparked market chaos and a rare, concerted sell-off in stocks and bonds.

Nick Evans writes that equity hedge funds started the second half of 2022 with a much-needed bounce in July, as the strong US stockmarket rally after the worst first half of a year on Wall Street in more than half a century helped long/short equity managers to claw back some of their H1 losses.

Strong alpha generation from Man Group’s alternative strategies helped to offset market beta losses from the group’s long-only products as the world’s largest listed hedge fund manager turned in a robust first-half performance in the face of acutely challenging market conditions.

BlackRock has announced the final close of its Diversified Private Debt Fund (DPD) with a total capital raise of GBP1.7 billion, underlining the growing attraction of private debt to pension schemes and other institutional investors.

2022 promises to be a pivotal year in the lifecycle of ESG investing – one defined by the maturing and mainstreaming of ESG as an investment discipline, and by changing attitudes and approaches among global investors towards this fast-evolving area.

European investors’ interest in infrastructure – including indirect exposure via equities – is growing in response to rising inflation, according to the latest issue of The Cerulli Edge European Monthly Product Trends report published by global research and consulting firm Cerulli Associates.
 

Nick Evans writes that Q2 2022 private markets analysis by alternative assets data provider Preqin reveals steep declines in private equity, sharp rises in infrastructure and natural resources, strong growth in private debt, and growing signs of slowdowns in real estate and venture capital as global investors react to the recent market sell-offs and the changed macro-economic environment.

Leading global asset manager abrdn has announced the launch of the abrdn Eclipse fund platform, which the firm describes as “an industry-first offering for institutional investors” that provides passive exposure to hedge fund strategies underpinned by indices from hedge fund index provider Hedge Fund Research (HFR).

Schroders has taken a strategic minority stake in Forteus, an asset manager focused on blockchain technology and digital assets that is headed by senior former executives from the alternative investment industry.

Oxford Science Enterprises (OSE), the independent investment company created to found, fund, and build transformational businesses through its unique partnership with the University of Oxford, has raised a further GBP250 million (USD300 million) in funding. This brings the total amount raised by OSE to more than GBP850 million (USD1 billion) since inception in 2015.