City of London Investment Group predicts falling funds

Emerging markets asset manager City of London Investment Group said it expected a net withdrawal of funds in the last three months of 2012.

Approximately $120m of net withdrawals is anticipated for the final quarter of the calendar year, based upon client instructions received.

Net client withdrawals since the end of May totalled $360m, the firm said in a trading update.

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"As noted in the final results announcement of September 3rd, these were largely prompted by rebalancing of risk assets by asset allocators, although in some instances recent underperformance of the underlying net asset values and some discount widening was a factor," it said.

At the end of September funds under management were $4.5bn (£2.8bn).

This compared to US$4.5bn (£2.9bn) at the company's year-end on May 31st.

In US dollar terms, allowing for client withdrawals, this represented marginal underperformance against the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, which increased by 12% over the same period, the company said.