Standard Life Investments' flagship Global Absolute Return Strategies (Gars) strategy has seen more than £1.1bn redeemed from its UK share classes alone in the past two months, as investors respond to an underwhelming year of returns for the £25bn strategy.
Figures released today by parent Standard Life showed that Gars suffered £4.3bn in net outflows last year. Estimates from Morningstar indicate the UK-domiciled version of the fund has seen outflows accelerate in recent months.
The fund saw more than £580m leave in January 2017, adding to the £580m which left in December, according to the data provider’s statistics. Gars’ UK share classes have now suffered five months of consecutive outflows.
January flow estimates for the £12.6bn Luxembourg version of the fund are not yet available, but outflows had been rising through 2016 and stood at a high of £519m in the final month of the year. The Sicav saw a net £3bn leave during 2016 as a whole, Morningstar has estimated.
The shift in sentiment comes after Gars' performance struggles saw it lose 2.3 per cent last year, a slump that was in part due to an overly-optimistic assessment of global growth. The fund has fared slightly better in the opening weeks of 2017 and remains flat year-to-date.
Gars had been a major driver of inflows and profit for Standard Life in recent years. The company said today in its full-year results that the reversal had been "partly offset by a 30 per cent increase in gross inflows to £17.5bn (and net inflows £3.7bn) into a broad range of other products".
