Alternative Investment Groups

Alternative Investment Groups

 

 

 

Direct: you own the asset

Indirect: you own a share

 

Real Estate:

 

  1. Direct: owns lands etc (more diversified)
  2. Indirect:
    1. Companies develop/manage real estate
    2. Real Estate Investment Trust REIT – public traded shares in real estate portfolio (less diversified, higher correlation to the market)
    3. Commingled Real Estate Fund CREF – pooled investment privately held
    4. Infrastructure Funds – provide investment in public projects like schools
    5. Accounts manage CREF

 

Large idiosyncratic risk (non-systematic)– the risk of price changed due to the unique circumstance of the asset instead of the whole market

 

Private Equity:

Startup, middle-market (closed to IPO) (VC)

Private-investment-in-public-entity (PIPE) (Buyout funds)

 

PIPE – purchasing a public company or an established private company

 

  1. Direct: e.g. owning preferred shares
  2. Indirect: owning shares of VC or buyout funds

 

Commodities:

 

  1. Direct: commodities or the futures: more exposure, may have carrying loss
  2. Indirect: Companies have business in commodities, may be less exposure because of hedging by the companies

 

Most liquid, positive correlation to inflation

 

More investable indices can be useful for small investors

 

Hedge Funds:

 

Constructed deliberately to be less transparent (by structuring to avoid regulations) and use non-standard technologies

 

Managed Futures:

 

Like Hedge funds, but focus more in derivatives and index

 

Usually Limited Partnership:

The partner: Commodity Pooled Operator (CPO)

Managers: Commodity Trading Advisors (CTA)

Both needs registration => more regulated than hedge funds

 

Has public and private

Risk Characteristics vary a lot. Low correlation to stocks and bonds. Sigma smaller than stocks but higher than bonds

 

Distressed Securities:

 

Can be hedged fund class (more liquid) or private equity class (less liquid)

 

Infrastructure funds:

Low risk (also low return), long term, stable cash flow

 

Buyout funds:

 

Middle-market buyout funds – to buy private companies or division of public companies

 

Mega-cap buyout funds – to buy publicly traded companies

 

Returns:

  1. Selling in private placement or IPO
  2. Dividend recapitalization – restructure the equity to debts to the funds to receive dividends. Ownership does not change

 

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