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74% of respondents who don’t already hold alternative investments in their portfolios intend to stay away from the asset class, but interestingly, 70% of investors who already hold alternative investments are planning additional acquisitions within the year.

According to the survey, 66% of institutional investors who are investing in absolute return funds use consultants to help them place their capital.

With 68% of investors surveyed stating that they are critical of their in-house research capabilities and know-how of alternative investment management, it is unsurprising that they would hire investment consultants in order to gain advantages of their network of contacts and access to high-return investments.

Perhaps the most interesting statistic is that 59% of German institutional investors confirmed that they consider UCITS compliance as an important criterion for allocating capital to absolute return funds. This is rather surprising considering that the UCITS directive was originally intended for the protection of private investors. However, 63% of respondents said that lack of transparency and limited liquidity are reasons why they decide against alternative investments, two issues which UCITS was explicitly created to address.

Commenting on the results of the survey, Aquila Capital CEO Roman Rosslenbroich said:

“The survey confirms a trend that Aquila Capital has pioneered from the beginning: the growing investor appetite for absolute return strategies, structured in a liquid and regulated fund format. Catering to this demand, we launched the AC Statistical Value Market Neutral fund (SVMN) in early 2008 as one of the first UCITS III absolute return funds. Just like a proof-of-concept, SVMN has seen significant growth and is now over 500m EUR in size - I am certain that a portion of this success can be credited to its highly liquid and transparent structure.”

(press release)

Aquila Capital is a dynamic alternative investment company with $2.9bn under management, specializing in next-generation absolute return and real asset investment strategies including, but not limited to UCITS-III compliant funds. The company’s success is built on identifying and delivering market independent and uncorrelated investment solutions.

Aquila Capital’s uniquely qualified investment specialists have been among the first to identify global trends and transform them into alternative investment and real asset strategies, supported by innovative and custom-tailored managed account solutions.

Aquila Capital was founded in 2001 by Roman Rosslenbroich and Dieter Rentsch, who both have extensive experience in the international asset management arena. With over 50 investment specialists at Aquila Capital, the Company is head-quartered in Hamburg and supported by regional offices in Frankfurt, Munich, Cologne, Zurich and Vienna as well as the group’s structuring arm, Alceda Fund Management S.A. in Luxembourg.

Aquila Capital is authorized and regulated by the BaFin, the German financial services authority.

Alternative investment strategies managed and structured by the group include multi strategy funds, managed futures, market neutral , distressed and emerging market strategies. Real assets funds include agriculture, climate change, renewable energies, forestry and shipping. www.aquila-capital.de

See this summer’s Opalesque video interview of CEO Detlef Schoen here: Source,
and our August-2010 Opalesque Exclusive: Investing in agricultural land is the way to go - Part Two Source

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