Currency hedging boost for Ashmore

14th Apr 2011 08:30

Assets under management (AUM) at emerging markets asset manager Ashmore Group grew again in the first quarter of 2011, with the group seeing good inflows across of a range of local currency accounts.AUM grew 8% in the first three months of 2011 to $50.3bn from $46.7bn at the end of 2010. Net inflows totalled $2.3bn while there was a $1.3bn uplift caused by positive investment performance.The external debt portfolio rose by 4% to $21.5bn from $20.7bn at the end of 2010. while the local currency portfolio's value improved by 16% to $9.2bn from an end-year figure of $7.9bn.The best performance, however, was in what the group terms its "Other" themed mandate, which includes the group's currency hedging/overlay strategy; this portfolio saw a 25% rise in value to $7.0bn from $5.6bn.The acquisition of a majority stake in EMM LLC, announced on 24 February 2011, is on schedule to complete on 31 May 2011 and will be included in the group's fourth quarter (April to June) AuM figures. Trading conditions are in line with management expectations and the group remains confident of its prospects for the current year.---jh