KEYNOTE ADDRESS

Leverage and Pricing in Buyouts

Leveraged buyouts rely on the ability of capital markets to provide debt. The ability of capital markets to provide this debt varies over time and across deals. Mike Weisbach will provide evidence showing changing capital market conditions affect the quantity of these deals, the structuring of these deals, and the pricing of these deals.

Presenter:
Dr. Michael S. Weisbach is the Stanley C. and Joan J. Golder Distinguished Chair in Corporate Finance and the Academic Director of the Stanley C. Golder Center for the Study of Private Equity at the University of Illinois and Urbana-Champaign, as well as a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

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Session Two

Private Equity: Opportunities in the North American Mid-Market Buyout and Distress Space

This presentation will make the case for maintaining a healthy exposure to North American mid-market buyout and growth opportunities as part of a diversified global private equity portfolio.  It will highlight the key success factors for investing in the North American mid-market, the principal associated risks and the prospects for the sector given current credit market and economic conditions.  It will also address the role of distressed investing in the context of a private equity portfolio and identify the broad range of investment strategies and return profiles that fall under the broad heading of “distress”.

Presenter:
Stuart Waugh, Managing Director, TD Capital Private Equity Investors

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Session Four

Long/Short Extension Strategies [130/30]

4A: 130/30 Strategies - Challenges & Opportunities

This presentation provides an overview of the current 130/30 market, including some of the challenges short-extension managers have had to overcome, and the critical success factors for future success. It also highlights some of the notable differentiators associated with investing in different regions outside of the U.S. as the 130/30 offering is rapidly expanding to non-U.S. investments.

Presenters:
Tony Elavia, Chief Investment Officer, Equity Investors Group and
Steve Landau, Managing Director, Product Development, New York Life Investment Management LLC

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This presentation will be an analysis of the counterparty risks inherent in alternative investing and how to alleviate them. Among the key points will be an overview of the relationship between alternative funds and service providers (brokers, prime brokers, custodians, fund administrators) as well as an expanded view of the risks alternative investors assume, going beyond market risk to consider credit and counterparty risk. Are there mechanisms in the market to control and reduce these risks?

Presenter:
Brad Taylor, Global Head, Investment Finance and Hedge Fund Services, RBC Dexia Investor Services

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Session Five

Hedge Funds

5A: The Institutionalization of Hedge Funds

The prevailing economic and market environment has increased the importance of risk management. As plan sponsors increase their allocation to hedge funds, they need to intensify their focus on balancing risk, complex operations, higher costs, and capital lock-up challenges. This presentation will review the evolution of the hedge fund market, key considerations when choosing an investment manager, the convergence of alternative and traditional investment managers and the resulting impact on transparency and risk management.
 
Presenter:
Joseph Morgart, Senior Vice-President, Alternative Investment Strategies, Pyramis Global Advisors

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5B: Containing Operational and Investment Risk: Benefits of Managed Account Platforms

Institutional investors need to control undesired risks as much as possible when investing in hedge funds. Managed account platforms offers a number of benefits that allow investors to effectively contain both operational and unwanted investment risks. The speaker will outline the operation of such platforms and their pros and cons.

Presenter:
Tristram Lett, Managing Director, Portfolio Manager, Alpha Beta Strategies, Integra Capital Management Ltd.

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Session Six

Shareholder Activism

Shareholder activism has received heightened attention in recent years, with scrutiny on the intentions and efficacy of organizations like hedge funds, private equity firms, and other professional investors as blockholders. New empirical evidence suggests that activism is an effective strategy for these organizations and that returns do not come at the expense of existing shareholders or corporate performance. These findings have implications that inform the evaluation of funds pursuing activist strategies as well as shares of individual companies with activist blocks.

Presenter:
Laura Lindsey, Assistant Professor of Finance, Arizona State University

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Session Seven

Investing in Infrastructure : We've Got Some Good News and Some Bad News



Moderator:
Robert Cultraro, Director, Pensions, Hydro One Inc.


Participants:
Bruce Grantier, formerly managing director, Pension Assets, Scotiabank
William Robson, President and CEO, C.D. Howe Institute

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Session Nine

Synthetic Funds:  Building the Best Marginal Funds into a Portfolio

At the frontier between active management and passive beta portfolios, synthetic funds are trying to carve their niche in money management space. Those funds have a high level of liquidity and transparency and will compete with both traditional and alternative investment managers. Synthetic funds also offer a new angle to many of the typical issues in portfolio management such as asset mix decisions, risk premia selection, beta versus alpha, portfolio insurance and portfolio construction. The presentation will cover some technical aspects of the approach but will also explore the benefits, limitations and implementation issues related to those investment products.

Presenter:
Florent Salmon, Vice-President, Alternative Investment Management, Desjardins Global Asset Management

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Closing Remarks and Conference Concludes