Investors allocated an additional US$9.33 billion to hedge funds around the world in July, ending four consecutive months of redemptions that saw investors pulling some US$72 billion from the industry between March and June, according to a recently published report.

With new money coming into the industry in only three of the first seven months of the year, the industry is still in the red for asset flows year to date (YTD) by US$46.42 billion and has assets under management (AUM) of US$3.15 trillion, the report by data provider eVestment points out.

Among primary strategies tracked in the report, multi-strategy funds were among the big asset winners in July, with investors adding US$4.02 billion to these funds. This brings YTD asset flows to minus US$450 million, setting up multi-strategy funds to be in the green for asset flows for 2020 if the trend continues. About 50% of multi-strategy managers saw inflows in July, with the largest inflows going to funds that performed well so far this and last year.

Event-driven funds attracted only US$990 million in new money in July, but these funds are one of only two primary strategies in the green for asset flows so far in 2020. YTD, event-driven funds have attracted US$4.38 billion this year, on top of the US$11.06 billion in new money these funds attracted in 2019. The only other primary strategy tracked in the report that is in the green for July and YTD are convertible arbitrage funds, which in July attracted US$440 million and, YTD, have seen US$800 million in new money.

Managed futures funds saw significant interest in July, with investors adding US$2.96 billion to these funds. The inflows to managed futures funds were the largest since October of last year, and 54% of managed futures funds saw new money. Managed futures are still in the red for asset flows YTD at minus US$7.07 billion.

Macro and relative-value credit funds were also asset winners in July, pulling in US$2.78 billion and US$2.69 billion respectively.

Long-short equity funds were the big asset losers among primary strategies in July, with investors pulling US$4.24 billion from these funds, bringing YTD flows to minus US$13.74 billion. The YTD negative flow is on top of a massive US$44.49 billion that investors pulled from long-short equity funds in 2019, and another US$10.74 billion investors pulled from these funds in 2018. However, with US$728.15 billion AUM, long-short equity funds are by far the largest primary strategy tracked in the eVestment report.