Ashmore suffers 13% drop in first-quarter AUM

Fund manager Ashmore reported a 13% drop in assets under management in the first quarter, dented by net outflows and negative investment performance.

For the quarter ended 30 September, assets under management fell to $51.1bn from $58.9bn at the end of June, on net outflows of $4bn and negative investment performance of $3.8bn.

Ashmore, which is focused on emerging markets, said the net outflow reflects the typically quieter quarter combined with a small number of large institutional redemptions that mostly occurred towards the end of the period.

Still, chief executive officer Mark Coombs said negative sentiment towards certain emerging markets experienced in the later part of the quarter provided good opportunities for Ashmore's value-based investment processes to acquire risk at attractive prices, particularly in high yield corporate credit, local currencies and selected external debt markets.

Coombs said: "The market environment remained challenging during the quarter and influenced client behaviour in what is typically a quieter period.

“Concerns over global growth prospects affected sentiment and resulted in price weakness and greater volatility across global markets.

"However, this backdrop has provided good opportunities to add risk where prices have diverged from fundamentals, and certain investors are now acting upon the value apparent in the Emerging Markets and are increasing allocations."