If you are interested in hearing a different perspective on what is going on in the hedge fund industry you should watch this “State of the Hedge Fund Industry” keynote address I gave from our sold-out Gaining the Edge – 2016 Hedge Fund Investor Leadership Summit this past Wednesday in NYC.
Also see
Q3 2016 Hedge Fund Letters
The presentation focuses on the disconnect between all the negative criticism the hedge fund industry is receiving and the fact that the hedge fund industry assets are near an all-time high. I would be happy to answer any questions you have on the presentation or relative to any of the panels from the summit below.
Which Hedge Fund Strategies Look the Most Attractive Over the Next 24 Months?
Andrew Fisch, Managing Director, Senior Portfolio Manager, Investcorp
David Saunders, Co-Founder & CEO, K2 Advisors LLC
Tom Williams, CFA, CIO – Pine Grove Funds, Man FRM
Betsy Battle, CIO & Founding Partner, Lone Peak Partners Management LP
Moderator: John Basile, Regional Leader of the Financial Services Practice Group, Baker Tilly
- Can hedge funds still add value to large institutional investors?
- Has the presidential election impacted your view on the relative attractiveness of any HF strategies and if so how?
- What strategies currently look the most attractive?
- Are there any niche strategies on which investors should be focused?
- To which strategies should investors reduce their allocations?
Which Hedge Fund Strategies Protect Capital During a Market Sell Off?
Chris Solarz, Managing Director, Head of Global Macro Strategies, Cliffwater LLC
Peter Fell, Director of Investment Due Diligence, Kenmar Olympia LLC
Dave Morehead, Senior Director of Investments, Marketable Investments, Baylor Endowment
Francis Frecentese, Managing Director, Director of Hedge Fund Investments, Bessemer Trust
Moderator: J. Robert Motoshige, Director, PAAMCO
- Why should institutional investors be concerned about tail risk in their portfolios? What happens to correlations between asset classes during a market sell off?
- Please discuss how the following strategies can help protect downside risk.
- CTAs and global macro
- Quant l/s equity strategies
- Relative value fixed income
- Re-Insurance
- Direct middle-market lending and specialty lending (aircraft, litigation, life settlement)
Opportunities in Less Liquid Hedge Fund Strategies
Brian Walsh, Principal, Titan Advisors, LLC
Chris Acito, Founder, CEO & CIO, Gapstow Capital Partners
Cedric Fan, Head of Hedge Fund Research, Russell Investments
Shakil Riaz, Head of U.S. Alternatives, Portfolio Management & Global CIO, Rothschild Asset Management Inc.
Moderator: Cara Fleckenstein, Managing Director, Agecroft Partners
- How much of a return enhancement is required to invest in less liquid strategies?
- What strategies do you like?
- Do you have any preferences for investments in smaller companies vs larger among less liquid opportunities?
- What do you think of Hybrid Strategies (PE/HF combo)?
- Do you have any preference for very concentrated portfolios of larger position sizes vs diversified portfolios of smaller position sizes among less liquid strategies?
- What is your opinion on fund terms? Fee, gates, lock ups?
How to Stay Informed about Current Developments in the Hedge Fund Industry
Steven Lord, Managing Editor, FINalternatives / The Alpha Pages
Matthias Knab, Owner, Opalesque
James Barfield, Business Development Director, Hedge Fund Intelligence
Moderator: Hank Loughran, Managing Director, Agecroft Partners
Where Are the Opportunities in L/S Equity?
Charles Honey, Partner, Private Advisors, LLC
Dominic Napolitano, Founder & Managing Member, Talson Partners
Joe Belfatto, Senior Partner, Massey, Quick & Co., LLC
David Storrs, President and CEO, Alternative Investment Group
Moderator: Andy Feldman, Managing Director, Agecroft Partners
- What has specifically created challenges to L/S equity managers delivering on investors’ reasonable expectations?
- Please discuss the relative attractiveness of the following.
- Fundamental verses quantitative?
- Developed markets verses emerging markets?
- Sector funds verses diversified?
- Small cap verses large cap?
- Regional verse global?
- Has the average net exposure you are focusing on changed over the past couple years?
- Does AUM matter? Tenure?
- What is important to you when doing dd on a long short manager?
- What are red flags in presentations or diligence?
State of the Hedge Fund Industry
Don Steinbrugge, Founder & CEO, Agecroft Partners
Seeding, Acceleration Capital, Founders Shares, First Loss and Other Opportunities
Michael Weinberg, Senior Managing Director, Chief Investment Strategist, Protégé Partners LLC
Clark Cheng, CFA, FRM, CIO, Merrimac Corp.
Paul Zummo, CEO / CIO, JP Morgan Alternative Asset Management
M. Ram Lee, Partner, Seven Bridges Advisors
Moderator: Susan Webb, Founder / CEO / CIO, Appomattox Advisory
- Why should investors consider investing in emerging managers?
- Are there certain strategies or other attributes that are more or less attractive?
- What is the difference between an emerging manager with a small AUM and a high profile launch?
- What type of fees do emerging managers charge and how does founders shares typically work? What other fees structures are available to better alien the manager with the investor.
- What is the attractiveness of Seeding, acceleration capital and First loss investing and how do they work?
Opportunities in Quant, Event Driven, and Fixed Income Strategies
Tim Ng, CIO, Clearbrook Global Advisers
Andrew Fisher, Managing Director of Public Markets, Emory Investment Management
Kevin Lyons, Senior Investment Manager, Aberdeen Investment Management
Sean Crawford, CIO, Metropolitan Transportation Authority of the State of NY
Moderator: Doug Rothschild, President, Agecroft Partners
- Define the Quant space and the opportunities you see in the current environment
- Systematic strategies are sometimes viewed as tail hedges but other uses advocate them as a diversifier. How do they fit in your portfolios?
- Event Driven strategies seem to episodically be doing well, with record acquisitions, low rates and Trump friendly corporate taxes, is this a place of focus?
- What are the headwinds for Event driven strategies?
- I have heard we are in “an absolute paradigm shift” and that “the uncertainty today is actually in traditional Long only” Where would this thinking lead you for Fixed Income?
- Direct lending is a popular space and, as money has flooded the space, yields have come down. Why would investors want to take less liquidity in this space without getting paid for it?
- As interest rates “normalize” What are the opportunities in more mainstream fixed income strategies?
Use of Hedge Funds to Enhance the Risk Adjusted Return of an Overall Institutional Investment Portfolio
Katherine Molnar, CFA, Senior Investment Officer, Fairfax County Retirement Systems
Samantha Rosenstock, Hedge Fund Portfolio Manager, Division of Investment, New Jersey Department of the Treasury
Robert Lee, CFA, Deputy CIO, Texas Tech Endowment
Steve Henderson, Director of Investments, Spider Management / University of Richmond
Moderator: Martin Lueck, Research Director & President, Aspect Capital
- Do hedge funds add value to an institutional investor’s portfolio and how does your organization
- utilize hedge funds, enhance returns, reduce downside volatility or find best in breed managers?
- Why are a number of large institutional investors negative on hedge funds?
- What can hedge funds do to be more attractive to institutional investors?
- How do you evaluate if your hedge funds are doing a good job?
- What strategies look attractive now?
Donald A. Steinbrugge, CFA
Managing Partner
Agecroft Partners, LLC
103 Canterbury RD
Richmond, VA 23221
804 355 2082