Jupiter Asset Management has continued haemorrhaging cash in the first quarter as investors snubbed its UK and European equity strategies.
Assets under management edged up to £58.8bn in the three months to 31 March, only slightly higher than the £58.7bn AUM recorded in December 2020.
Jupiter’s acquisition of Merian added £16.6bn of assets to its total pot in 2020 but also resulted in the FTSE 250 manager delivering another year of outflows as investors pulled £4bn, mostly from Merian funds.
In the first quarter of 2021 redemptions have not let up with clients pulling a further £776m in total.
Jupiter’s mutual funds were the worst hit in its product stable, leaking £848m over the period. The fund group blamed the net redemptions on “continued lower client demand for UK and European-focused equity strategies”.
Jupiter said net outflows were partially offset by positive flows into Ariel Bezalel’s €9.7bn (£8.4bn) Dynamic Bond and £4.3bn Strategic Bond strategies, and Ned Naylor-Leyland’s $1.2bn (£860m) Gold & Silver fund.
The $1.8bn Merian Global Equity Absolute Return fund, which was one of the main culprits behind outflows in 2020, also saw a turnaround in investor sentiment, returning to positive flows in Q1.
Investment Trusts also had a positive first quarter, generating net inflows of £221m driven by a capital raise by the Chrysalis Investment Trust which brought in proceeds of £300m last month.
In segregated mandates NZS Capital continued to see “strong client demand,” according to the trading update, generating more than £250m of net inflows, although this was offset by redemptions in other strategies such as UK equities which resulted in net outflows of £149m.
NZS won a €300m mandate as manager of the Mediolanum Challenge Technology Fund in March.
Earlier this year it was revealed Jupiter was planning on making up to 90 staff redundant over the next six months which CEO Andrew Formica (pictured) said was necessary for Jupiter to become a more “agile business” and “succeed in a rapidly changing environment”.
See also: Jupiter to axe up to 90 jobs following turbulent year of outflows and senior exits
