Windfalls all round at Man Group

THE rush to invest in hedge funds will trigger a windfall bonus of around £87m for the staff of Man Group, the world's largest listed fund manager.

Turning in a forecast-busting annual profits of £434m, Man chief executive Stanley Fink said he would typically share 20% of that with all his staff.

That means dozens of top investment managers will pick up multimillion pound pay-outs while secretaries can expect a a few thousand pounds extra pay. 'We have around 2,600 staff world-wide and they all work very hard and often long hours,' Fink said.

The strong performance came on the back of a massive inflow of new funds under management both into the core hedge fund business and its futures brokerage business.

'We are optimistic about the future. We are seeing constant growth in hedge funds - the logic is diversification whether in a bull of bear market for equities,' he added, hiking the full year dividend 29% to 30p

Total new fund sales came to $11.5bn in the 12 months to 31 March, nearly double the amount that flowed in the year before. Overall funds under management now stand at $38.5 billion, 48% more than last year.