A concentrated, fundamental asset manager took the lead last month among the smallest fund firms.

Richard M. Burridge, Jr. RMB Capital Founding Partner, CEO, Co-Chief Investment Officer

The information within this article draws from Morningstar Direct data on August 2018 open-end mutual fund and ETF flows (excluding money market funds and funds of funds), specifically for firms with under $1 billion each in mutual fund AUM.

RMB brought in an estimated $147 million in net inflows in August, up from $3 million in July. Other big August winners included: Aptus, $65 million (up from $12 million); Mirae, $54 million (up from $33 million); EIP, $47 million (up from $2 million); and Innovator, $47 million (up from $27 million).

On a relative basis, setting aside apparent newcomers, Marmont led the August pack among the smallest firms with estimated net inflows equivalent to 83.95 percent of its AUM, up from 5.34 percent in July. Other big August winners included: RMB, 51.49 percent (up from 3.69 percent); Ocean Capital, 50 percent (up from zero net flows); QuantX, 49.99 percent (up from 122.19 percent in net outflows); and Impact Shares, 48.28 percent (down from 100 percent).

There were also two apparent newcomers (i.e. firms whose AUM was roughly equal to their monthly net inflows) in August. They were Adler and Defiance.

On the flip side, August was a rough month for Abbey Capital, which suffered estimated net outflows of $63 million. Other big sufferers included: Toreador, $33 million (up from $1 million in July); AdvisorShares, $32 million (down from $34 million); Oak Ridge, $28 million (up from $14 million); and Highmore, $28 million (down from zero net flows).

Proportionately, August was a rough month for Traub's FX Strategy, which suffered estimated net outflows equivalent to 95.76 percent of its AUM, down from 0.02 percent in net inflows in July. Other big August sufferers included: Highmore, 72.19 percent (up from 0.34 percent); LMCG, 28.84 percent (up from 0.07 percent); Toreador, 13.24 percent (up from 0.26 percent); and Elkhorn, 13.02 percent (down from 20.5 percent).

As a group, the smallest fund firms brought in a combined $509 million in net inflows in August, equivalent to 0.54 percent of their combined AUM. That's down from $897 million in July.

Across the whole industry, long-term, open-end mutual funds and ETFs brought in a combined $22.219 billion in estimated net inflows in August, equivalent to 0.12 percent of their combined AUM. That's down from $31.915 billion in July. 

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