Press Release
12th April 2016
Hedge Funds Post Best Monthly Returns Since January 2012
Preqin All-Strategies Hedge Fund benchmark posts 2.82% in March as all leading strategies
make gains
The Preqin All-Strategies Hedge Fund benchmark posted 2.82% in March, the best monthly return for the asset class
since January 2012 (+3.06%), and only the third positive monthly return since May 2015. All leading hedge fund
strategies posted gains, with equity strategies seeing the highest returns of 3.79%. However, after posting negative
returns in the previous two months, performance for equity strategies funds in 2016 YTD stands at -1.10%, the worst of
any leading strategy. Overall, hedge funds are still showing negative performance for the year, with losses of 0.28% in
2016 YTD.
Macro strategies continued their strong recent performance, as returns of 0.20% took their 2016 YTD performance to
1.13%; this is the highest YTD return for any leading strategy, and macro strategies funds are the only fund type to have
posted positive monthly returns throughout the year. Another strategy posting positive returns for the opening quarter
of 2016 is relative value funds, which gained 2.09% in March to put their YTD performance at 0.46%. Event driven
strategies recorded just their second positive month in the last ten to return 2.55%, while multi-strategy funds continued
from gains of 0.21% in February to post 0.77% in March.
Other Key Hedge Fund Performance Statistics:





Discretionary Funds: For the first time in 2016, discretionary hedge funds (+3.00%) recorded better
performance than systematic funds (+0.65%). However, while systematic hedge funds are still returning a
positive 0.18% for the year-to-date, discretionary funds are posting losses of 1.21%.
CTAs Post Losses: CTAs saw their first month of losses in 2016, returning -1.73%. This cancels out most
of their gains in February, when they returned 1.87%; however, the strong start to the year for CTAs still puts
their year-to-date performance at 1.03%.
Liquid Alts Recover: Liquid alternatives funds recovered in March as alternative mutual funds gained 2.78%
following four successive months of losses. After returning -2.63% and -0.62% in January and February,
UCITS funds posted 1.74% in March.
Activist Funds Surge: Activist hedge funds also posted their best monthly returns since January 2012
as their performance hit 3.75%. Volatility funds, meanwhile, returned a second consecutive month of gains,
adding 0.83% to take their 2016 performance to 1.21% at the end of the first quarter of the year.
Emerging Markets See Huge Gains: Emerging markets hedge funds returned 5.85% in March, wiping out
earlier losses to bring their year-to-date performance to 2.71%. While Asia-Pacific funds returned 5.17%, and
North America funds returned 3.25%, Europe funds made gains of just 0.72% in the month.
Comment:
“The opening months of 2016 seemed to pose the same challenges to the hedge fund industry as those that had
characterized the second half of 2015; global volatility, losses in public equities, and a continued slump in
commodities prices. However, the widespread gains seen in March are an improvement for the industry, which has
not seen such a strong monthly return since January 2012.
Although nearly all strategies and geographies posted positive returns, there is a disparity in the strength of gains
made between different types of hedge funds. For instance strong returns in emerging markets have been offset by
more tepid European performance. Although the returns in March are encouraging, half the leading strategies are still
showing negative YTD returns. The industry will need to show further recovery in the coming months to better the
gains of 2015 and to win back investor favour.”
Amy Bensted – Head of Hedge Fund Products, Preqin
New York: One Grand Central Place, 60 E 42nd Street, Suite 630, New York NY 10165 Tel: +1 212 350 0100
London: 3rd Floor, Vintners’ Place, 68 Upper Thames Street, London, EC4V 3BJ Tel: +44 (0)20 3207 0200
Singapore: One Finlayson Green, #11-02, Singapore, 049246 Tel: +65 6305 2200
San Francisco: One Embarcadero Center, Suite 2850, San Francisco, CA 94111 Tel: +1 415 316 0580
Hong Kong: Level 9, Central Building, 1-3 Pedder Street, Central, Hong Kong Tel: +852 3958 2819
Manila: Pascor Drive, Sto. Niño, Parañaque City, Metro Manila 1700
Web: www.preqin.com / [email protected]
To view the full March hedge fund benchmarks, please see the factsheet that follows
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Note to Editors:

Preqin is spelled without the letter ‘U’ after the ‘Q’, the company name being an amalgamation of the former name, Private
Equity Intelligence.
About Preqin:
Preqin is the leading source of information for the alternative assets industry, providing data and analysis via online databases,
publications and bespoke data requests.
Preqin has built a reputation in the alternative assets industry for providing the most comprehensive and extensive information
possible. Leading alternative assets professionals from around the world rely on Preqin’s services daily, and its data and statistics
are regularly quoted by the financial press. For more information, please visit: www.preqin.com
For more information, please contact: Amy Bensted +44 (0)20 3207 0230 or [email protected]
For general press enquiries, please contact: William Clarke +44 (0)20 3207 0265 or [email protected]
New York: One Grand Central Place, 60 E 42nd Street, Suite 630, New York NY 10165 Tel: +1 212 350 0100
London: 3rd Floor, Vintners’ Place, 68 Upper Thames Street, London, EC4V 3BJ Tel: +44 (0)20 3207 0200
Singapore: One Finlayson Green, #11-02, Singapore, 049246 Tel: +65 6305 2200
San Francisco: One Embarcadero Center, Suite 2850, San Francisco, CA 94111 Tel: +1 415 316 0580
Hong Kong: Level 9, Central Building, 1-3 Pedder Street, Central, Hong Kong Tel: +852 3958 2819
Manila: Pascor Drive, Sto. Niño, Parañaque City, Metro Manila 1700
Web: www.preqin.com / [email protected]
12th April 2016
alternative assets. intelligent data.
Preqin’s March 2016 Hedge Fund
Performance Benchmarks
Summary of Preliminary March 2016 Performance Benchmarks (Net Return, %)*
Preqin All-Strategies Hedge Fund Benchmark
HF - Equity Strategies
HF - Event Driven Strategies
HF - Relative Value
HF - Macro Strategies
HF - Multi-Strategy
HF - Credit Strategies
Activist
Volatility
Discretionary
Systematic
HF - North America
HF - Europe
HF - Asia-Pacific
HF - Developed Markets
HF - Emerging Markets
HF - USD
HF - EUR
HF - GBP
HF - BRL
HF - Emerging (Less Than $100mn)
HF - Small ($100mn-$499mn)
HF - Medium ($500mn-$999mn)
HF - Large ($1bn plus)
CTAs (All Strategies and Regions)
Discretionary
Systematic
CTA - USD
CTA - EUR
Alternative Mutual Funds (All Strategies and Regions)
UCITS Hedge Funds (All Strategies and Regions)
UCITS - Equity Strategies
UCITS - Relative Value
UCITS - Macro Strategies
UCITS - USD
UCITS - EUR
March
2.82
3.79
2.55
2.09
0.20
0.77
2.16
3.75
0.83
3.00
0.65
3.25
0.72
5.17
0.80
5.85
2.79
0.47
-0.37
4.72
3.68
2.28
2.24
0.73
-1.73
-0.70
-1.86
-1.80
-1.81
2.78
1.74
2.76
1.11
0.13
2.41
1.61
February
-0.34
-0.46
-0.29
-0.57
0.71
0.21
-0.80
-0.94
0.52
-0.89
0.37
-0.33
-0.69
-1.88
-0.16
0.07
-0.38
-0.54
0.33
1.68
-0.16
-0.67
-0.95
-1.11
1.87
0.80
2.20
2.07
2.71
-0.24
-0.62
-0.86
-0.29
-0.62
-0.77
-0.65
2016 YTD
-0.28
-1.10
-0.83
0.46
1.13
-0.30
0.27
-1.54
1.21
-1.21
0.18
-0.50
-2.26
-1.16
-0.13
2.71
-0.68
-1.84
-1.19
6.92
0.95
-1.31
-1.22
-2.52
1.03
-1.11
1.86
1.32
0.88
0.21
-1.55
-2.18
-0.30
-2.15
-1.55
-1.48
12 Months
-1.42
-3.64
-4.09
3.20
0.13
0.15
0.35
-2.16
4.35
-2.60
2.35
-3.14
-1.29
2.30
-0.17
1.76
-2.67
-2.76
-2.84
12.38
-0.33
-2.18
-1.83
-3.96
-3.27
-0.75
-4.43
-3.00
-3.83
-3.70
-3.88
-4.10
-0.32
-7.15
-4.93
-3.52
Source: Preqin Hedge Fund Analyst
* Please note, all performance information includes preliminary data for March 2016 based on net returns reported to Preqin in early April 2016. Although stated trends
and comparisons are not expected to alter significantly, final benchmark values are subject to change.
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