Alternatives

Sydney Airports (ASX:SYD) – As any investor would expect, the monopoly provider (and the nation’s major gateway) has had a challenging half-year, posting a widening loss, while a takeover offer hangs in the balance. Just days before its result, the board knocked back an $8.45-a-share takeover offer from a group of pension funds, saying it…

The 2010s was somewhat of a torrid time for the hedge fund sector, as the pressure for lower costs and more transparency collided with a period of weaker returns. Institutional research consultant bfinance this week published a white paper, titled “How to build a hedge fund portfolio,” that offers some unique institutional insights for the…

Craig Hobart, a veteran of the business side of funds management, is thinking of putting a link to an ASIC podcast on his new company’s website. It provides the regulator’s views on cryptocurrencies. The new company is the Brisbane-based Monochrome Asset Management, formed in April by a crypto veteran Jeff Yew and where Hobart’s younger…

This week saw confirmation that private equity was once again the leading asset class over 2021. According to the Chant West super fund survey, the median private equity return for the financial year was 40%, well ahead of Australian equities and bonds. Yet the illiquid asset class requires investors to lock away capital for as…

Gold has intrigued investors for almost as long as its existence, first as a store of wealth and currency and now as, well, what? Asset consultancy Frontier has taken a look at gold’s worth to professional investors. And it’s not about an inflation hedge. Frontier’s Chris Trevillyan, director of investment strategy, and Nicholas Thomas, senior…

Multi-asset manager Ruffer LLP’s Rory McIvor tells the story of when he sat at Ruffer’s Victoria Street office in London, five years ago, across the table from two portfolio managers, when they asked him, “What is a bond?” He ummed and ahh’d. The interviewers gave him the textbook definition which he had failed to provide….

Like all big investors, global asset managers have to have a view on China. Most also have a view on alternatives, even if seen only as competition to traditional investment management. Against this backdrop, UBS Asset Management held its inaugural global investor conference, virtually, last month (May 19-20), in which many discussions inevitably led to…

With inflation running at its highest level in decades and the global economy getting hotter than anticipated, investors are wondering what to do. Bonds offer slim returns. As inflation has jolted higher, and central banks keep interest rates low, the real returns on bonds in rich countries have hovered below zero.    Shares seem little…

The wave of institutional adoption of cryptocurrency assets has been on the rise since the start of 2021. Leading banks and financial institutions have started to offer services in digital assets to the public. Several hedge fund billionaires including Ray Dalio and Stanley Druckenmiller have unveiled their crypto positions. Although the number of prominent names…

The “green” future is covered in dirt. As the proposed shift toward carbon targets and decarbonisation continues apace, it is increasingly clear that the shift will rely heavily on old-fashioned commodities. These range from the well-known metals, including lithium and copper, to the lesser lights in nickel and manganese.  Presenting on the topic ‘Eyes on…

Infrastructure assets, which range from utilities such as electricity generation, to assets that facilitate the movement of the population, such as airports and toll roads, faced a near “perfect storm” in 2020. Historically billed as a less volatile alternative than direct equities, few infrastructure investors, or anyone for that matter, saw the pandemic and associated…

Gold’s crown is a little tainted by its recent price retracement, which has taken the yellow metal roughly back to where it was a year ago. Instead, Bitcoin has smashed the ball out of the park. Why is there such a difference between these two? At an elementary level, both assets play to the concern…