Man hit by massive investor retreat

One of the world’s biggest money managers slumped in value yesterday after it revealed investors dumped huge amounts of funds amid recent market volatility.

Man Group, a hedge fund specialist, said total funds under management fell to $65 billion (£41.6bn) at 30 September, 8 per cent lower than three months earlier. Its shares dived 25 per cent in the FTSE 100 index, wiping around £1bn from its value.

Chief executive Peter Clarke said: “As anticipated, investor sentiment continued to weaken across the summer with lower sales in our second quarter and some increase in redemption rates, notably in September.”

Man’s investors pulled out $7.1bn from its funds in the second quarter of its financial year to September. New sales also halved to $4.5bn in the period, making a net outflow of $2.6bn.