Man Group, the world's largest listed hedge fund firm, is considering taking legal action over its exposure to the alleged fraud by US financier Bernard Madoff.

/Home/Madoff Fraud Victims- Swindler's List/Hedge Funds and Fund of Funds Invested with Madoff/Man Group Madoff Victim

Man Group, the world's largest listed hedge fund firm, is considering taking legal action over its exposure to the alleged fraud by US financier Bernard Madoff.

By Telegraph Staff
Last Updated: 12:33PM GMT 14 Jan 2009

Chief Executive Peter Clarke told Reuters in an interview that the company take legal action with its investors over the exposure.

"We will be suing the people involved," Mr Clarke told the newswire on Wednesday. "We will be looking for remedies on behalf of our investors. We will take action in conjunction with our institutional investors."

However, a Man spokesman later said: "Not all the facts are currently available, so any action we take will need to be based on more complete information. In the meantime, we are actively reviewing all options to recover assets for our investors. We are in regular dialogue with our institutional investors through RMF about this process and the way forward."

Bernard Madoff is accused by US authorities of running a worldwide fraud that they say may have cost investors $50bn.

Last month Man Group said it was exposed to Madoff Securities through its institutional fund of funds business, RMF, which had around $360m (£246m) in funds directly or indirectly sub-advised by Madoff. The spokesman for the company said this exposure represented less than 1.5pc of RMF's assets under management and 0.5pc of Man Group's assets under management.

Earlier today, Man Group reported a 21pc fall in assets under management in the last three months of 2008. On December 31, funds under management fell to $53.3bn (£36bn), down from $67.6bn at the end of September.

"Market conditions in the three months to 31 December continued to be extremely challenging, with high volatility, low levels of liquidity, limited availability of leverage and year-end redemptions by many investors," the company said in a third-quarter interim management statement.

The company said private investor sales over the period remained robust, at an estimated $2.7bn.

However, institutional sales environment remains very subdued. Estimated sales of $400m and continued redemptions in the quarter resulted in a net outflow of $2.1bn.