(Bloomberg) -- Investors yanked $3.7 billion from Ashmore Group’s funds in the first three months of 2022 as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine further reduced demand for the emerging markets specialist.

The outflows, together with negative investment performance, in the three months through March pulled down assets under management by $9 billion to $78.3 billion, according to a statement Thursday. Institutional mandates accounted for the majority of the net redemptions. 

“The war in Ukraine is a humanitarian tragedy that will have far-reaching consequences for the existing world order,” Ashmore’s Chief Executive Officer Mark Coombs said in the statement. Ashmore “is well positioned to understand and to act upon the current market volatility,” he said.

Ashmore, which specializes in emerging markets, built up outsized exposure to Russia before the Ukraine war in its two biggest retail funds, Bloomberg reported last month. It is also the leading holders of dollar-denominated bonds issued by China Evergrande Group and its subsidiaries, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The asset manager was founded in in 1992 as part of the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group and became independent seven years later. The vast majority of its assets are managed in segregated mandates and it also runs several funds available to retail investors. 

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