Man Group on Tuesday said it has raised $1.5bn from Japanese investors for an open-ended AHL fund that has only been taking subscriptions for about a month, in an encouraging sign for analysts who have been concerned about how AHL's recent spell of choppy performance might hit sales.

The Nomura Global Trend fund, tracking the performance of Man Group's flagship AHL managed-futures strategy and packaged for private clients of the Japanese bank, started trading at the end of April. It marks one of Man Group's strongest fundraisings since the financial crisis, and should help dispel fears that Japanese investors-one of Man Group's largest customer bases-might be wary of the AHL strategy after volatile returns.