Ashmore Assets Up 7% As Investors Move To Emerging Markets

14th Jul 2010 07:49

By Margot Patrick and Kaveri Niththyananthan Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES LONDON (Dow Jones)--Emerging markets specialist Ashmore Group PLC (ASHM.LN) Wednesday said the amount of money it manages rose 7% in the last three months of its fiscal year, driven by $2.9 billion of net inflows into its external debt, local currency and special situations funds. Assets under management at June 30 were around $35.3 billion compared with $33 billion at March 31. London-based Ashmore operates emerging market funds across seven core investment "themes" built around sovereign bonds in foreign and local currencies, special situations such as distressed debt and private equity, emerging market stocks and corporate high-yield debt, with some funds blending the mix of investments. However, the company experienced an investment loss of $600 million because of market volatility, primarily in May when markets experienced heavy flow of stock sell-offs. The performance of its equity and corporate high yield funds were flat over the past three months, while its multi-strategy products fell 5% over the period to $2 billion. The company estimated performance fees for the year overall at GBP82.9 million, compared with GBP52.5 million a year earlier, boosted by a strong investment performance for funds with December and April year ends. Over the past three months Ashmore's shares have shed 6% of their value, closing Tuesday at 264 pence. -By Margot Patrick, Dow Jones Newswires; +44 (0)20 7842 9451; [email protected] and Kaveri Niththyananthan; 4420 7842 9299; [email protected] (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 14, 2010 02:49 ET (06:49 GMT)