Actively Connecting Investors with Alternative Opportunities

Managed futures strategies typically focus on investing in listed bond, equity, commodity futures, and currency markets, globally. Using future contracts, managers determine their positions based on expected profit potential. Market-neutral strategies look to profit from spreads and arbitrage created by mispricing. Trend-following strategies look to profit by going long (buying a holding) or short (borrowing a stock you don't own and selling it in the hope of repurchasing it at a lower price before returning to the stock lender), according to fundamentals or technical market signals. Systematic equity strategies, as the name suggests, use a suite of adaptive trading models that capture returns from trends within equity markets.

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Global Macro strategies build portfolios around predictions of large-scale events on the individual country, region or global scale, and implement opportunistic investment strategies to capitalise on macroeconomic and geopolitical trends. They can take long (buying a holding) or short (borrowing a stock you don't own and selling it in the hope of repurchasing it at a lower price before returning to the stock lender) positions in multiple asset classes, with the ratio of holdings to each one based on their macro-economic projections. Portfolios are constructed at the asset-class level and can be based on a top-down view of global markets, or they might use price-based and trend-following algorithms to help execute the fund's trades.

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Like other alternative investments, arbitrage and absolute return strategies include non-traditional assets and investment techniques. In essence, these strategies aim to deliver positive returns whatever the market does, rather than simply aiming to outperform a benchmark or reference index. Portfolios constructed using these strategies can be diversified across asset classes, geography, and economic cycles. Managers pay special attention to the correlation between the different components of their portfolio.

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Real estate strategies invest in funds that buy or sell properties, which can include commercial or retail properties, or real estate debt. Some strategies look to provide a return from capital appreciation and income over the longer term, and to deliver, over time, outperformance of a benchmark or reference index. Others seek to better align the benefits of property as a real asset with, for example, the liabilities of pension savers. As with other tangible or ‘real’ assets, real estate is considered an illiquid alternative. The Illiquidity premium means it has the potential for higher returns than more liquid assets. It can typically provide downside protection – as illiquid asset pricing typically lags behind public market asset pricing – and it can offer portfolio diversification. What’s more, there are predictable cash flows with real estate, which can be inflation-linked for the duration of a long-term contract. However, the relative ease of valuation and ability to transact, as well as the potential difficulty in find buyers and sellers, are all factors that contribute to the asset’s illiquidity.

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Private equity (PE) strategies can invest directly in private companies or participate in leveraged (debt-assisted) and management buy-outs of publicly listed companies. They can also co-invest or partner with other market participants to enable a private company, or portfolio of companies, to grow or transform. In contrast with publicly listed companies, which often have multiple shareholders, PE managers work alongside the private company’s management team to enhance the running of the business. This can involve all areas of operation, from the top-line growth, efficiency savings, and cash generation and procurement to supply-chains, marketing and sales, and improving reporting and human resources. Investments will typically be in companies or portfolios of companies in the smaller to middle market size, as opposed to larger-cap companies – or indeed early-stage businesses, which typically require seed money and venture capital to grow. PE firms will typically look to hold investments for between four and seven years, at which time they will look to sell, or ‘exit’, their stake, either on the stock market, to a corporate buyer, or to another investor.

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Alternative credit is a relatively broad term that spans both liquid and illiquid credit strategies. On the liquid side, alternative credit covers strategies beyond traditional investment-grade debt such as high yield, bank loans, structured credit, and emerging market debt. On the illiquid side, it includes strategies such as direct lending, distressed debt, and specialty finance, amongst others.

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Private debt strategies invest in various types of loans and corporate bonds. Leveraged loans, for example, are one solution for institutional investors that allocated funds into government bonds more than a decade ago, when yields were attractive, and now wish to replace them as they mature. Other illiquid private debt strategies can also provide required yields and deliver a low-risk, low volatility solution to long-term cashflow needs. These include investing in debt secured on real assets, like property and infrastructure.

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Infrastructure strategies typically invest in ‘real assets’, like bridges, roads, airports, and wind farms, but they can also invest in social development projects, which can include everything from hospitals to sustainable oceans. This can be through public private partnerships or core investments in regulated assets, through debt a variety of approaches within energy and utilities resources. As with other tangible or ‘real’ assets, infrastructure is considered an illiquid alternative. The Illiquidity premium means it has the potential for higher returns than more liquid assets. It can typically provide downside protection – as illiquid asset pricing typically lags behind public market asset pricing – and it can offer portfolio diversification. What’s more, there are predictable cash flows with infrastructure, which can be inflation-linked for the duration of long-term contract. However, the relative ease of valuation and ability to transact, as well as the potential difficulty in find buyers and sellers, are all factors that contribute to the asset’s illiquidity.

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A wide variety of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) focused or ESG compliant alternative strategies are available for investors looking to capture the diversification, risk management, and return enhancement benefits of alternative strategies with an explicit ESG component. This is especially true on the illiquid side with strategies including impact investments linked to the conservation of oceans and land, investments in projects to develop renewable energy and green infrastructure, and developments of low-energy or sustainable real estate.

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