Research

Asia’s economic development continues to attract global investor’s interest. Yet, investing in Asia-focused hedge funds has proved challenging due to illiquidity, shorting constraints, and underdeveloped legal systems. This report takes an in-depth look at four strategies (long/short equity, credit opportunities, event-driven, and macro), highlighting the challenges each faces and the opportunity set available. All things considered, long/short equity and macro strategies present the most interesting prospects, event-driven and liquid credit strategies less so. We remain cautious on broad implementation in the near term; liquidity and governance drawbacks in most cases outweigh the benefits of geographic diversification and market inefficiency.
Read More »

One of many private investment market indicators, the global private capital overhang is substantial in size and deploying more slowly than predicted. In this research note, we take the measure of the global overhang and analyze its level by strategy, vintage year, and fund size to provide perspective on its potential impact.
Read More »

The construction and calibration of a liability hedging portfolio is integral to effective pension portfolio risk management, and this report delineates key considerations and best practices for the liability hedge allocation.
Read More »

This report discusses the rise of multi-managers, compares the performance of multi-manager funds with traditional multi-strategy funds, and outlines the key questions investors should ask when conducting due diligence on a multi-manager fund.
Read More »

This paper attempts to answer the question, “how can investors that select active managers maximize their odds of success?” by delving into two metrics—active share and concentration—that a growing body of research suggests are linked to benchmark-beating performance. Combining these metrics with tracking error we illustrate a framework for evaluating equity managers and also explore the challenges of implementing such a framework.
Read More »

Private investments often play an important role in an investor’s portfolio, yet the inconsistent methodologies typically used to evaluate private investment performance and public market performance result in a lack of understanding about true relative performance. This report provides our views on best practices for measuring private investment performance and introduces a framework for benchmarking private investments.
Read More »

This paper defines impact investing, explores its allure and challenges and offers a decision-making framework to help investors successfully build impact investing portfolios within the context of their long-term investment pools.
Read More »

Families can use several strategies to mitigate the risks of single-stock exposures, thereby supporting both wealth-preservation and philanthropic goals.
Read More »

While simple 100% U.S. equity and stock/bond portfolios have outperformed recently, highly diversified portfolios have superior returns over decades.
Read More »

Successful hedge funds exhibit three basic characteristics: consistent alpha-generative security selection, portfolio management expertise, and business proficiency.
Read More »