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Marcus Storr Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque Geneva:

What does a new fund need to do to entice today’s investors? Several investors and fund of hedge funds (FoHFs) managers discussed this very topic during a panel at last week’s Terrapinn’s Hedge Funds World Zurich 2011 conference. They said that if a fund manager can attract trust, be proactively open about his operations, able to explain its strategy to pension boards, if he has a history and modus operandi relevant to his strategy, is able to protect his fund against downsides, takes advantage of the current volatility and is aware of investors’ restraints when it comes to investing in emerging managers, then he should get through the door – both feet.

"At the end of the day, it’s all about the trust element. You need to do your homework to the point where you trust your manager," said Marcus Storr, head of hedge funds at FERI Institutional Advisors, an advisor/asset manager based in Germany. He also rates highly those managers who proactively provide information – and this attitude comes easier to smaller hedge funds, he noticed. It’s all about "openness" rather than transparency. He also recommends "negotiating" when it comes to fee rebates.

"People don’t realise they’re aren’t many alternatives outside alternatives," commented Urs Peter Fischer, chairman of the investment committee of Alcan Pension Fund, a Swiss fund which invest 10% of its assets......................

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