Six hedge fund experts, including the chief executive of a major family office in Europe, candidly discuss some of the more topical themes within the hedge fund community at a special roundtable convened by Horizon Cash Management.
A Rothstein Kass report finds that biotechnology executives are becoming more creative in their financing approaches, creating a climate ripe for consolidation and strategic alliances. Investors who viewed an initial public offering as an exit strategy are being replaced by those with longer horizons and by better capitalized industry participants eager to explore synergies.
All parents have hopes and dreams for their children. They hope to see their children create loving relationships, achieve success in satisfying careers and make productive contributions to society. For many parents with strong moral, religious or civic beliefs, it may be particularly important that their children grow up to become caring, generous adults with deeply-held philanthropic values. Promoting appropriate and responsible philanthropy within the family is a wonderful way to surmount these challenges.
Staff recruitment, hiring and retention are challenging and diffi cult processes for any employer. When this task is assumed by a family, many of the standard issues raised are magnifi ed because of the family's limited experience in this job capacity. When you take on the role of employer, risk management changes in many ways. Despite the concerns that are raised, proper planning and preparation can mitigate or remove many of the potential pitfalls.
Savvy investors have always known that an economic downturn presents opportunities for anyone willing to bet on a recovery. Similarly with estate planning, there are distinct advantages in taking action while market values and interest rates are low. By transferring property now, individuals can reduce the size of their taxable estates while giving beneficiaries substantial upside potential.
The effects of the financial crisis and declining economic conditions are being felt across the commercial real estate sector, but property market fundamentals remain relatively sound. That, combined with banks and insurers taking a more cautious approach to real estate lending, has resulted in reduced liquidity and a potential opportunity for investors, says Babson Capital Management.
For those investors who are well positioned and well funded, there will be substantial opportunity this year to buy distressed commercial real estate or real estate debt in the United States. Baceline Investments believes investments in secondary U.S. markets will yield many favorable opportunities when compared to investments in primary U.S. markets.
Although hedge funds have been blamed for much of this year's market volatility, they could be the vehicles to bring liquidity back to financial markets and help jump-start markets on their road to recovery. In this report, a Bank of America executive suggests that as many as one-third of hedge funds may close in early 2009, strengthening the industry as weak players leave and creating investment opportunities later in the year.
While hedge funds greatly disappointed a number of investors in the past year, Allenbridge finds reasons not to abandon this asset class. This report explains what happened in the sector, dispels some of the misconceptions and offers pointers for hedge fund investors.
Conventional logic indicates that a down market offers value buys for investors willing to take a chance on assets that have dropped precipitously in price. But which of these assets are most likely to regain value, and how much of a portfolio is it reasonable to invest in them? Cambridge Associates examines the outcomes of the 1990 and 2001 recessions for distressed assets and suggests four key components of a successful distressed investment strategy.