Alternative Investment Conference
AGENDA
December 5 – 7, 2007
Scottsdale, Arizona
Dress for the conference is business casual.
Dinner on Thursday evening is business attire.
All sessions will take place in the McDOWELL ROOMS.
Theme: The New Alternatives
Wednesday, December 5th
5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Speaker Rehearsals (McDowell Rooms)
6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Opening Reception (Hacienda Plaza and Trellis)
Thursday, December 6th
7:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. Breakfast (Hacienda Restaurant)
8:00 a.m. – 8:15 a.m. Opening Remarks
8:15 a.m. – 8:45 a.m. Session 1
Venture Capital
Many financial markets are characterized by strong relationships and networks, rather than arm’s-length, spot-market transactions. In this talk, we will examine the performance consequences of this organizational choice in the context of relationships established when VCs syndicate portfolio company investments, using a comprehensive sample of U.S. based VCs over the period 1980 to 2003. VC funds whose parent firms enjoy more influential network positions have significantly better performance, as measured by the proportion of portfolio companies that are successfully exited through an initial public offering or a sale to another company. Similarly, the portfolio companies of better networked VC firms are significantly more likely to survive to subsequent rounds of financing and to eventual exit. Once we control for network effects in our models of fund and portfolio company performance, the importance of how much investment experience a VC has is reduced, and in some cases, eliminated.
Speaker: Yael Hochberg, Department of Finance, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
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Session One Designated Respondents:
Andrew Campbell Chief Executive Officer, Nunavut Trust
Steve Foerster Professor, University of Western Ontario
8:45 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. Session 2
The Changing Landscape of Valuation Services for Alternative Investments
Absolute return has proved so effective at generating alpha that sustaining performance has become a larger problem for alternative investments managers than attracting investors. But the continuing growth in assets, fuelled mainly by institutional investors, is imposing new risks and responsibilities on managers. That they are largely operational in nature does not mean they matter less than investment strategies, asset class expansion or arbitrage opportunities. In fact, the lagging to keep apace operational performance of the hedge fund, fund of hedge fund and OTC derivatives industry is fast emerging as the principal constraint on its growth. José Santamaria of RBC Dexia Investor Services explains what the industry must do to improve efficiency, add capacity and return to equilibrium.
Speaker: José Santamaria, Director, Business Development, RBC Dexia Investor Services
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Session Two Designated Respondents:
Joan Wright Manager, Pensions and Insurance, 3M Company Canada
William Rentz Professor of Finance, University of Ottawa
9:15 a.m. – 9:45 a.m. Networking Coffee Break
9:45 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. Session 3
Global Alternatives
3a. Global Real Estate
The presentation investigates the potential role of global private real estate in a mixed asset institutional portfolio. An overview is given of fundamentals in real estate investment analysis and perspectives provided on the growth of cross border real estate investment.
Speaker: David Gilbert, Managing Director, ING Clarion
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3b. Global Infrastructure – A “New” Alternative Asset Class
The infrastructure asset class has the potential to provide investors with a long life and low-risk investment that targets inflation-linked returns. Attention to the asset class has grown considerably and so have plan allocations from institutional investors. There is a massive amount of capital that is needed to repair existing and build new infrastructure around the globe, some estimates being as high as US$41 Trillion. How investors can participate in this global infrastructure spend is a key question. It is critical to understand how investors can access this “new” alternative asset class and the risks/rewards of each approach.
Speaker: Edward P. Keating, Vice-President, Product Specialist, Lazard Asset Management
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Session Three Designated Respondents:
Gayle McDade Senior Manager Fund Management, Alberta Investment Management
Philip Falls President and CEO, UBC Investment Management Trust Inc.
10:45 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. Session 4
An Alternative Alternative: Higher Returns without Higher Risk with Private Debt
Investment grade private debt enhances fixed income portfolios with an attractive combination of higher rates of return and lower risk than public market bonds. Sustainable higher returns come from credit risk exposure and the illiquidity premium. Risk is reduced by stronger than public market loan terms and relationship based active investment management.
Speaker: Don Bangay, CFA, Managing Director, Integrated Private Debt Corp.
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Session Four Designated Respondents:
Hari Mahadevan Pension Investment Manager, IBM Canada Limited
Dan Foster Investment Manager, United Church of Canada
11:15 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. Session 5
130/30 Part 1: Short-Extension Strategies: Risks & Opportunities
This presentation is a summary of the findings from NYLIM's latest thought-leadership paper on short-extension strategies. It addresses some of the myths associated with different sources of risk followed by a discussion of the key factors that help determine the optimal amount of leverage and shorting in a portfolio.
Speakers: Tony Elavia, Chief Investment Officer, New York Life Investment Management and
Steve Landau, Managing Director, New York Life Investment Management
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Session Five Designated Respondents:
Leona Fields Manager, Pension Fund, York University
Kalina Berova-Todorova Portfolio Manager, Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan
11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. Group Photos and Lunch (Hacienda Restaurant)
12:45 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. Session 6
Innovation in Equity-linked Structured Products
Market Snapshot
Structured Products Basics & Advanced Derivatives
Use of Advanced Derivatives & Structured Products in an ALM context
Speaker: Elisabeth Bourqui, Director, Structured Product Sales, Financial Institutions Canada, SG Americas Securities LLC
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Session Six Designated Respondents:
Pierre Drolet Coordinator, Pension Fund Investments, Domtar Inc.
Gerald Boychuk Chief Investments Officer, the City of Hamilton
1:15 p.m. – 1:45 p.m. Networking Coffee Break
1:45 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. Session 7
7a: Tell Me What You Want, What You Really, Really Want: Hedge Funds
Following on the factor replication discussion by Andrew Lo, last year’s keynote speaker, Tris explains distribution replication and places the processes into a philosophical context to help understand the difference between alpha and beta-based returns and how they are best utilized.
Speaker: Tris Lett, Managing Director and Portfolio Manager, Alpha Beta Strategies, Integra Capital Limited
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7b: New Hedge Fund Strategies
Hedge fund investing is at a crossroads. Hedge funds have become a standard asset allocation at institutions of all types and sizes. But as investors gain more experience, we are seeing a bifurcation in behavior. Volatility, headline risk, lack of transparency and fees are driving some away from the sector – while others embrace these strategies with renewed vigor. This presentation will ask two questions. What’s the right answer and are there products available that can meet the needs of both groups?
Speaker: Adam L. Berger, Vice-President, AQR Capital Management LLC
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Session Seven Designated Respondents:
Adam Bomers Manager, Pension Investments, Royal Bank of Canada
Robert Cultraro Director, Pension Fund, Hydro One Inc.
2:45 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. Session 8
The ‘L’ Word
The use of leverage is widespread in financial markets yet is often misunderstood. This is particularly true in the hedge fund sector where leverage can either increase risk or decrease risk depending on the nature of the underlying positions. This presentation will examine the following topics:
- What are the various sources of leverage in a typical hedge fund strategy?
- Which hedge fund strategies use leverage to reduce overall risk and which strategies use leverage to increase it?
- What are consistent measures of the degree of leverage in a given strategy?
- How should the risk of a leveraged position be evaluated?
- What are the problems as well as benefits that leverage can create?
Speaker: Peter Klein, Professor, Faculty of Business Administration, Simon Fraser University
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Session Eight Designated Respondents:
Sylvie Charest Vice-President, Global Pensions and Benefits, Manulife Financial
John Poos Director, Global Pensions, Nortel
3:15 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. Closing Remarks
5:30 p.m. Shuttle to leave Hotel Lobby (Offsite Dinner)
6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. Cocktails at Pioneer the Past Restaurant
7:00 p.m. Dinner at Pioneer the Past Restaurant
Friday December 7th
7:00 a.m. – 8:00 a.m. Breakfast (Hacienda Restaurant)
8:00 a.m. – 8:15 a.m. Opening Remarks
8:15 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. Session 9 -
Keynote Presentation
Finding Outperforming Managers
Most money managers underperform their benchmarks. Moreover, there is little evidence of persistence in manager performance. This has led many to conclude that managers can’t pick stocks and that it’s impossible to pick winning managers. In this presentation, Randy will argue that these conclusions are incorrect. Rather that managers can pick stocks but fail to outperform because of institutional factors and that winning managers can be identified in advance - but doing so requires much more than simply looking at past average returns. We will then discuss the ways that great managers, especially in alternatives, can be selected.
Speaker: Randolph B. Cohen
Associate Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
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Session Nine Designated Respondents:
Keith Dixon Chair, Board of Pension Trustees, University of Victoria
Martin Belanger Associate Director, Retirement Plans, the University of Western Ontario
9:15 a.m. – 9:45 a.m. Networking Coffee Break and Check-out Time
9:45 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. Session 10
Quantitative vs. Fundamental Canadian 130/30
Active management offers the potential to outperform a market or market segment, as measured by an index benchmark. The strategies for active equity management can be characterized as either fundamental or quantitative. Although the processes employed by fundamental and quantitative managers in selecting stocks differ, both types of strategy can add value if delivered effectively
Speakers: Margot Naudie, CFA, Managing Director, Active Fundamental Strategies, TD Asset Management Inc. and
Jean Masson, Ph.D., Managing Director, Head of Quantitative Research, TD Asset Management Inc.
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Session Ten Designated Respondents:
Derek Brodersen Portfolio Manager, Alberta Teacher’s Retirement Fund
Gerry Wahl Assistant Treasurer, Teck Cominco Limited
10:15 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Session 11
Plan Sponsor Panel Session
11:00 a.m. Closing Remarks and Conference Concludes
12:00 p.m. BBQ Lunch (Hacienda Restaurant)
** Please note that in one-person sessions, presenters are given twenty minutes of presentation and 10 minutes of question and answer time. In two person sessions, the presenters are given twenty minutes of presentation time and ten minutes of question and answer time each. **
* AGENDA IS FINAL.
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