Given the less attractive outlook on most traditional "pure beta" asset classes and investment styles, hedge funds and alternative investments are regaining interest from Swiss investors: pensions, banks, independent asset managers and private clients. Risk premia become increasingly tight, and with that the risk of a correction increases. The need for diversification is high.
Swiss pension plans have on average 5% invested in alternatives, well below the regulatory soft limit of 15%. 1% is in private equity, about 2% is in hedge funds, and the remaining is deployed in other asset classes categorized as alternatives according to the Swiss pension plan regulation such as commodities, insurance-linked securities, senior secured loans and private debt. The allocation to alternatives of semi-institutional investors such as family offices is more sizable and consists on average of 20% private equity and 8% hedge funds.
In this Geneva Roundtable, we introduce you to a selection of interesting managers. For example, Hilmi Ünver represents one of the oldest funds of hedge funds called Haussmann. Launched in January 1974, the fund has been around for 43 years now with a net compounding performance of 13.8% since inception. Commodity newcomer Zafiro Capital, founded by veteran manager Stephen Smethurst, is up 71% gross in 2016, and Dr. Karl Sarkans' Geneva Global Macro Fund is up 90% net in 2016 after having made 30% in 2015 and 75% in 2014.
The Roundtable also addresses structural changes within hedge funds. While total industry AUM still seems to go up, we also see hedge fund managers closing, which means in some cases less competition, leading to greater dispersion and better opportunities for certain type of managers. Meanwhile, investors and consultants say that it's actually private equity which is a big question mark (page 8), because valuations are probably even richer than in listed equities with so much money chasing limited opportunities.
Investors shouldn't underestimate some of the unintended consequences of the unabated money flows into passive investments. Of course, there is a cyclical aspect to that as well in the sense that you need to be massively investing into passive investment when markets are efficient and it's a cheap way to get beta. However, the more you invest into passive investments, the more distorted the market becomes until at one point large inefficiencies can be exploited by active managers (page 15). Hedge funds are the most active investors because they can go long and short, and they should be the ones who can benefit the most from large dislocations and inefficiencies.
The Opalesque Geneva Roundtable, sponsored by Eurex, included the following experts:- Dominique Grandchamp, Head Investment Consulting Switzerland, AON
- Hilmi Ünver, Head of ultra-high-net-worth and family office, Notz Stucki
- Clément Leturgie, Business development & investor relations, Lombard Odier Asset Management
- Dr. Karl Sarkans, Portfolio Manager & Director, Geneva Capital
- Vincenzo Zinnŕ, Equity and Index Sales, Eurex
- Stephen Smethurst, CEO, Zafiro Capital
- Sherban Tautu, Head of Investment Advisory, Banque SYZ
The group also discussed:
- Example of an alternative risk premia mix that is working quite well and can deliver attractive returns over the medium term (page 9) (page 10)
- Which are the four main ways to improve bond yield?
- What does a balanced account of a typical Swiss ultra high net worth client look like? (page 11)
- Manager selection: How do Swiss allocators select funds? (page 13, 23) In demand: Cross assets specialists and managers with a clear technological edge (page 16)
- Do second or third generation managers spinning out of some well-known established hedge funds mostly succeed or mostly fail? (page 13)
- What is the potential problem with robo-advisers? (page 13-14) Are robo-advisers "smart"? Will disaster strike? (page 20)
- Do quants distort fundamentals? (page 15)
- How is an asset-liability study performed? (page 17)
- Outlook for oil, Palladium and precious metals (page 21)
- What is Eurex' ISA Direct offering? How can volatility futures hedge portfolios? (page 23)
- Are equity valuations justified? (page 24)
- How can fees be more aligned between managers and investors? (pages 24-26)
Tue, 03 Oct 2023 | |
Mon, 01 Aug 2022 | |
Wed, 23 Jun 2021 | |
Mon, 10 May 2021 | |
Thu, 17 Dec 2020 | |
Wed, 29 Jul 2020 | |
Tue, 02 Jun 2020 | |
Wed, 22 Jan 2020 | |
Fri, 06 Dec 2019 | |
Wed, 30 Oct 2019 | |
Wed, 17 Jul 2019 | |
Wed, 10 Jul 2019 | |
Mon, 03 Jun 2019 | |
Wed, 24 Apr 2019 | |
Sun, 07 Apr 2019 | |
Mon, 18 Mar 2019 | |
Sat, 09 Feb 2019 | |
Thu, 31 Jan 2019 | |
Tue, 22 Jan 2019 | |
Fri, 11 Jan 2019 | |
Tue, 18 Dec 2018 | |
Tue, 11 Dec 2018 | |
Tue, 04 Dec 2018 | |
Mon, 26 Nov 2018 | |
Tue, 13 Nov 2018 | |
Wed, 31 Oct 2018 | |
Mon, 10 Sep 2018 | |
Wed, 08 Aug 2018 | |
Tue, 10 Jul 2018 | |
Tue, 12 Jun 2018 | |
Mon, 28 May 2018 | |
Mon, 14 May 2018 | |
Tue, 10 Apr 2018 | |
Fri, 02 Mar 2018 | |
Tue, 20 Feb 2018 | |
Thu, 08 Feb 2018 | |
Thu, 25 Jan 2018 | |
Wed, 17 Jan 2018 | |
Tue, 09 Jan 2018 | |
Thu, 21 Dec 2017 | |
Tue, 12 Dec 2017 | |
Mon, 04 Dec 2017 | |
Mon, 27 Nov 2017 | |
Tue, 14 Nov 2017 | |
Tue, 07 Nov 2017 | |
Tue, 24 Oct 2017 | |
Mon, 16 Oct 2017 | |
Tue, 08 Aug 2017 | |
Mon, 24 Jul 2017 | |
Wed, 03 May 2017 | |
Thu, 20 Apr 2017 | |
Thu, 06 Apr 2017 | |
Sun, 12 Mar 2017 | |
Tue, 14 Feb 2017 | |
Thu, 19 Jan 2017 | |
Wed, 11 Jan 2017 | |
Wed, 04 Jan 2017 | |
Thu, 15 Dec 2016 | |
Wed, 07 Dec 2016 | |
Thu, 01 Dec 2016 | |
Thu, 24 Nov 2016 | |
Tue, 15 Nov 2016 | |
Mon, 07 Nov 2016 | |
Mon, 31 Oct 2016 | |
Mon, 24 Oct 2016 | |
Mon, 17 Oct 2016 | |
Wed, 03 Aug 2016 | |
Fri, 22 Jul 2016 | |
Thu, 14 Jul 2016 | |
Mon, 04 Jul 2016 | |
Tue, 21 Jun 2016 | |
Wed, 08 Jun 2016 |
Opalesque Roundtable Series - Montreal Opalesque Roundtable Series - Montreal (French version) |
More information |
|
|
Thu, 10 Mar 2016 | |
Wed, 02 Mar 2016 | |
Mon, 15 Feb 2016 | |
Sun, 07 Feb 2016 | |
Wed, 27 Jan 2016 | |
Mon, 18 Jan 2016 | |
Fri, 01 Jan 2016 | |
Thu, 24 Dec 2015 | |
Wed, 16 Dec 2015 |
Opalesque Roundtable Series - Miami 2016 Opalesque Roundtable Series - Miami 2016 (Mandarin version) Opalesque Roundtable Series - Miami 2016 (Portuguese version) |
More information |
|
|
Thu, 10 Dec 2015 | |
Wed, 02 Dec 2015 | |
Wed, 25 Nov 2015 | |
Tue, 17 Nov 2015 | |
Thu, 05 Nov 2015 | |
Fri, 30 Oct 2015 | |
Fri, 23 Oct 2015 | |
Fri, 16 Oct 2015 | |
Tue, 06 Oct 2015 | |
Fri, 14 Aug 2015 | |
Sat, 01 Aug 2015 | |
Wed, 22 Jul 2015 | |
Thu, 25 Jun 2015 | |
Thu, 04 Jun 2015 | |
Thu, 28 May 2015 | |
Fri, 15 May 2015 | |
Wed, 06 May 2015 | |
Thu, 26 Mar 2015 | |
Fri, 20 Mar 2015 | |
Tue, 10 Mar 2015 | |
Thu, 05 Feb 2015 |
Opalesque Roundtable Series - Miami 2015 Opalesque Roundtable Series - Miami 2015 (Mandarin version) Opalesque Roundtable Series - Miami 2015 (Portuguese version) |
More information |
|
|
Thu, 29 Jan 2015 | |
Tue, 20 Jan 2015 | |
Thu, 08 Jan 2015 | |
Tue, 23 Dec 2014 | |
Wed, 10 Dec 2014 | |
Mon, 01 Dec 2014 | |
Thu, 20 Nov 2014 | |
Tue, 04 Nov 2014 | |
Tue, 28 Oct 2014 | |
Mon, 20 Oct 2014 | |
Wed, 08 Oct 2014 | |
Wed, 01 Oct 2014 | |
Thu, 03 Jul 2014 | |
Fri, 27 Jun 2014 | |
Wed, 14 May 2014 | |
Fri, 07 Mar 2014 | |
Wed, 22 Jan 2014 | |
Fri, 17 Jan 2014 | |
Tue, 07 Jan 2014 |
Opalesque Roundtable Series - Miami 2014 Opalesque Roundtable Series - Miami 2014 (Spanish version) Opalesque Roundtable Series - Miami 2014 (Portuguese version) |
More information |
|
|
Tue, 17 Dec 2013 | |
Mon, 09 Dec 2013 | |
Mon, 18 Nov 2013 | |
Thu, 07 Nov 2013 | |
Wed, 16 Oct 2013 | |
Mon, 05 Aug 2013 | |
Tue, 16 Jul 2013 | |
Wed, 10 Jul 2013 | |
Tue, 02 Jul 2013 | |
Mon, 24 Jun 2013 | |
Mon, 17 Jun 2013 | |
Wed, 12 Jun 2013 | |
Thu, 30 May 2013 | |
Mon, 20 May 2013 | |
Tue, 14 May 2013 | |
Wed, 13 Mar 2013 | |
Mon, 21 Jan 2013 | |
Mon, 14 Jan 2013 | |
Wed, 05 Dec 2012 | |
Mon, 26 Nov 2012 | |
Thu, 01 Nov 2012 | |
Tue, 23 Oct 2012 | |
Tue, 16 Oct 2012 | |
Tue, 02 Oct 2012 | |
Mon, 24 Sep 2012 | |
Wed, 25 Jul 2012 | |
Tue, 17 Jul 2012 | |
Thu, 05 Jul 2012 | |
Thu, 14 Jun 2012 | |
Thu, 07 Jun 2012 | |
Wed, 30 May 2012 | |
Wed, 23 May 2012 | |
Thu, 10 May 2012 | |
Thu, 03 May 2012 | |
Wed, 04 Apr 2012 | |
Wed, 21 Dec 2011 | |
Fri, 09 Dec 2011 | |
Thu, 24 Nov 2011 | |
Mon, 14 Nov 2011 | |
Mon, 07 Nov 2011 | |
Mon, 31 Oct 2011 | |
Mon, 24 Oct 2011 | |
Thu, 06 Oct 2011 | |
Wed, 10 Aug 2011 | |
Mon, 01 Aug 2011 | |
Mon, 25 Jul 2011 | |
Wed, 29 Jun 2011 | |
Thu, 19 May 2011 | |
Mon, 02 May 2011 | |
Tue, 26 Apr 2011 | |
Sun, 10 Apr 2011 | |
Sun, 03 Apr 2011 | |
Fri, 25 Mar 2011 | |
Sun, 19 Dec 2010 | |
Tue, 14 Dec 2010 | |
Fri, 03 Dec 2010 | |
Thu, 18 Nov 2010 | |
Tue, 09 Nov 2010 | |
Thu, 04 Nov 2010 | |
Mon, 25 Oct 2010 | |
Mon, 04 Oct 2010 | |
Tue, 20 Jul 2010 | |
Wed, 16 Jun 2010 | |
Sun, 06 Jun 2010 | |
Mon, 24 May 2010 | |
Sat, 08 May 2010 | |
Wed, 28 Apr 2010 | |
Mon, 29 Mar 2010 | |
Thu, 18 Mar 2010 | |
Thu, 04 Mar 2010 | |
Sat, 09 Jan 2010 | |
Tue, 15 Dec 2009 | |
Tue, 17 Nov 2009 | |
Mon, 09 Nov 2009 | |
Mon, 19 Oct 2009 | |
Mon, 05 Oct 2009 | |
Fri, 26 Jun 2009 | |
Tue, 09 Jun 2009 | |
Fri, 29 May 2009 | |
Thu, 21 May 2009 | |
Wed, 13 May 2009 | |
Fri, 24 Apr 2009 | |
Thu, 19 Mar 2009 | |
Fri, 05 Dec 2008 | |
Mon, 17 Nov 2008 | |
Fri, 07 Nov 2008 | |
Mon, 20 Oct 2008 | |
Wed, 02 Jul 2008 | |
Wed, 11 Jun 2008 | |
Fri, 23 May 2008 | |
Tue, 20 May 2008 | |
Wed, 30 Apr 2008 | |
Wed, 23 Apr 2008 | |
Tue, 25 Mar 2008 | |
Mon, 17 Mar 2008 | |