Alternative Investments in Portfolio Management Course
Why Should You Take an Alternative Investments Course?
Yields in the United States have remained stubbornly low throughout the past decade. Investment managers are searching for yield, and are returning to alternative investments as risk comes back in vogue. Commodities have shown how volatile they can be and private equity flows are bouncing back as financing returns to the market. Hedge fund assets under management are also increasing, however, both businesses have been significantly transformed by the credit crisis.
In our Alternative Investments Course, we examine how alternative investments fit into an overall asset allocation strategy and identify the risks that are specific to alternative investments. Attending this course will help participants develop a deeper understanding of what drives pricing and risk in alternative investments and make you better equipped to judge how and understand what circumstances alternate investments might improve the risk-adjusted performance of a portfolio.
Objectives of the GFMI Alternative Investments in Portfolio Management Course
By the end of this course, participants will be able to:
Identify alternative investments, including:
Hedge funds
Commodities
Private equity
Real Estate
Describe how alternative investments fit into an overall asset allocation strategy
Analyze pricing, correlation, and the risks of different alternative investments
Discuss risk adjusted returns
Course Requirements:
Prerequisites: Portfolio Management or equivalent, knowledge of debt and equity markets
Program Level: Intermediate
Advance Preparation: None
Recommended CPE Credits: 7
This course is taught in four sessions to ensure that each subject is thoroughly covered.
In Session 1: Introduction, participants will learn about the role investments in alternative assets can play in asset allocation. The main types of alternative investments, including commodities, private equity, real estate and hedge funds are covered. A comparison and contrast of the risk and return characteristics of alternative assets with those of traditional asset classes, such as equity and debt will be analyzed. An explanation as to why investors might seek exposure to commodities, private equity, hedge funds, and other alternative assets through broader asset allocation will also be analyzed.
Session 2: Commodities will help participants develop investment and risk management strategies for commodity markets and how to identify those factors that may affect pricing and risk in said markets. They will learn how to use swaps and other derivatives to express views about single commodities and commodity indices, and how to examine the factors that contribute to profit or loss on such strategies. A description of the main features of the physical and financial markets for agricultural products, metals, crude oil, natural gas, and electric power will be given. Various methods of investing in commodities will be compared and contrasted.
Session 3: Private Equity will discuss the two important forms of private equity investments: venture capital and leveraged buyouts. By the end of this session, participants will be able to describe how venture capital funds and leveraged buyout firms operate, and the risk characteristics of private equity investment. The key criteria that venture capital funds and leveraged buyout firms use in assessing potential investments will be identified and an explanation of the financial structure of leveraged buyouts will be given.
Session 4: Hedge Funds will take a look at alternative investment strategies pursued by hedge funds and will ask what contributions they can make to risk and return in portfolios. An explanation of the significance of financing and the use of collateral to hedge fund strategies will be given, as well as how the relationship between hedge funds and prime brokers has been affected by market and regulatory responses.
For additional information on this course and for our full course catalog, contact us at +1-516-935-0923 or [email protected]!
