Brevan Howard's Hedge Fund Had $1 Billion Outflows in April

(Bloomberg) -- Brevan Howard Asset Management’s flagship hedge fund suffered about $1 billion in outflows in April as investors continued to pull money, according to a Bloomberg News calculation based on the fund’s letters to investors.

Assets managed by Brevan Howard Master Fund, which lost 0.7 percent last month, dropped to $8.7 billion at the end of April, from almost $10 billion a month ago, the letters show. The calculation doesn’t take into account currency fluctuations.

Assets have roughly halved in the past year after investors asked for their money back following poor performance. A spokesman for the investment firm run by billionaire Alan Howard declined to comment.

Investors continue to flee Brevan Howard’s main fund even as interest in macro trading recovers on the prospect of further policy normalization from the Federal Reserve. Macro hedge funds received about $11.5 billion in inflows during the first quarter, reversing withdrawals of almost $10 billion in 2016, according to data provider eVestment.

The fund’s decline last month deepened its losses to 3.1 percent for the first four months of the year. It returned 3 percent in 2016, its first annual gain in three years.

Howard, 53, is trying to revive the fortunes of his hedge fund after firm-wide assets dropped to $15.5 billion at the end of 2016 from $40 billion at its peak.

He started the Brevan Howard AH Master Fund in March to manage a combination of new, outside capital as well as money from his flagship fund. While investors pulled money from the firm’s main fund, they were said to have pledged about $700 million for Howard’s new hedge fund.

The billionaire is seeking 30 percent of the returns from the new pool, people with knowledge of the matter said in March. Howard himself will allocate as much as $500 million to the hedge fund, Reuters reported last month, citing a person familiar with the matter.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nishant Kumar in London at nkumar173@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Neil Callanan at ncallanan@bloomberg.net, Paul Armstrong