School Of Hedge Funds

The ultimate course in our hedge fund portfolio of events. The course is delivered on a residential basis to facilitate focused learning without distraction. The course aims to take your practical skills to new heights as a result of working 1-to-1 with our trainers with over 15 years' experience in the hedge fund industry. If you are looking for hedge funds training, this is the course that will make a difference!

Course Highlights

A 5-day residential programme designed to optimise your skills and increase your effectiveness within all aspects of hedge funds

Rationale for Hedge Funds Uses
The Characteristics of Hedge Funds against Traditional Investment Funds
Operational and Organisational Structures
Various Strategies Followed by Hedge Funds in the US and Europe
Risk Management for Hedge Funds
The Hedge Fund Indices Available
Understanding the Mechanics of Hedge Fund Performance
Practical Hedge Fund Investment Techniques
Getting to Grips with New Investment Vehicles
Asset Allocation Strategies
How to Select a Hedge Fund
The Legal Framework Surrounding Hedge Funds in the US and other Countries
Funds of Funds and Meta-Diversification
Understanding Capital Guaranteed Products

For details of the course trainer, please download the course brochure

Booking Information

Dates	Prices	Book This Course	Discount
06 - 10 Dec 2010	£ 4599		-

Course Programme

DAY 1 – Re-visiting the concept of Hedge Funds

EVOLUTION OF THE HEDGE FUND SECTOR

Positioning versus traditional and other alternative investments

How to define hedge funds?
Glossary of useful terms
Market statistics
History of hedge funds and evolution of asset flows
Analysis of 2007-2008 crisis
What drives demand for hedge funds? The investor's perspectives
Key players and their business models
Outlook

Operational issues

Role of the administration
Role of the custodian
Role of the prime broker
Issues with the valuation of hedge funds

HEDGE FUNDS' TYPE OF VEHICLES

Single managers

Funds
Managed accounts

Fund of hedge funds

Benefits and characteristics
The challenges for the funds of funds
The key leaders
Challenging the funds of funds' business model after 2008

Guaranteed products

The different ways to structure a guaranteed product
Analysing the demand for guaranteed products

Hedge fund trackers or investible indices

Benefits and characteristics

Hedge fund replication models

The different models
Pro and cons

Exploring the new business models in hedge funds

Absolute return funds: a mix between hedge funds and traditional investments
Hedge funds entering the long only space with UCITS3
Private Equity and hedge funds
Listing of hedge funds

Performance indexing and benchmarking

Calculating hedge fund indices
Investable and non investable indices
Overview of the major index providers

DAY 2 – Hedge Funds' strategies

STRATEGIES

Introducing the concept of short selling and leverage

How to short a security?
Risks associated
The use of leverage

Hedge fund strategies

The different classifications
Definition, influencing factors and market environment, example of trades pertinent to each strategy, historical performance and risk charts, key players
Review of past performance and outlook for each strategy

Exploring other recent strategies

Energy trading
Volatility arbitrage

Case Study: Hedge role play where the participants will be given a macro scenario and will decide on their portfolio allocation in hedge funds.

DAY 3 – Legal and Regulatory Issues

LEGAL ISSUES

Legal issues and regulatory requirements

Structure and regulation of hedge funds in the US and in the UK
On-shore and authorised hedge funds across Europe
Taxation considerations in the UK
Legal issues and documentation

Case Study: The participants will learn how to use the prospectus of a fund to track targeted information.

REGULATORY ISSUES

Regulatory requirements

The evolution of the regulation in the USA
The UK new regulation for hedge funds
The complexity of the various regulations in Europe
The recent European issues with hedge funds

CESAR commission
MIFID
The EU Directive

A brief overview of hedge fund regulation in Asia

Distribution rules

General distribution rules in the US and in the UK
Specific constraints:

Concept of private placement
FSA registration as an intermediary

DAY 4 – Risk and Asset Allocation

RISK AND MONEY MANAGEMENT

How to identify the specific risks associated with hedge funds

Market risk
Operational risk
Liquidity risk
Business risk

The counterparty risk with hedge funds

The operational due diligence
Building your own due diligence questionnaire

Money management

Trade and position risk management
Value-at-Risk and risk budgeting across trades
Correlation and risk duplication
Overall portfolio risk and money management

Case Studies: Four case studies of hedge funds and fund of funds performance.

DAY 5 – Investing in Hedge Funds

DEMAND FOR HEDGE FUNDS

History of demand for hedge funds

History of institutional demand by type of investor
Evolution of demand
Benefits and perceived hurdles

Institutional investment: criteria for choosing a hedge fund

Exploring the nature of the demand for hedge funds for Pension Funds in Europe
Impact on an institutional portfolio

DUE DILIGENCE QUESTIONNAIRES

Reality behind the numbers

Absolute and relative statistical measures
Comparison to peers, Stress test
Review of the different risk ratios used for analysing hedge funds

Asset allocation

Hedge fund selection and due diligence: qualitative and quantitative analysis
The questionnaires in use
Portfolio construction: top/down approach

Case Study: The participants will be in two groups: the sales and the investors' teams. Each sales team will present a different fund to the team of investors who will nominate the best professional sales pitch.