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Shariah screening discards the firms that belong to impermissible business sectors (or sin industries) and follow capital structure with high debt and current assets. This study tests whether the firms passing Shariah screening have better (or worse) governance quality as compared to firms not subjected to Islamic screening. The screened firms may have lesser governance quality as they cannot use debt to discipline managers or achieve optimal capital structure. On the contrary, they may be better governed as these firms get higher presence of institutional investors and better analyst coverage. This paper provides comparison of governance quality of Shariah compliant (SC) firms in United States by using proprietary dataset of Dow Jones US Indices. The screened firms offer ground for a natural experiment as they pass negative ethical screening and meet financial criteria for the inclusion in the index. The findings suggest that the SC firms have lesser governance quality than Shariah Non-Compliant firms. The lower level of governance can be attributed to lower Size, lower Profitability, higher Dividend Payout, higher Total Risk and lower Free Cash Flow. Various robustness tests are performed to validate the findings and the results remained robust. These findings provide useful insights about the governance mechanism of SC firms that are emerging as an important alternative investment class in the last two decades.

Using previously unexplored custodial data, we examine alternative investment vehicles (AVs) in private equity (PE) funds over the last four decades. By 2017, AVs reached 40% of all PE commitments. Average AV performance matches the PE market, but underperforms the main funds of the partnerships sponsoring the AVs. Limited partners (LPs) with better past performance invest in AVs with better average performance, even after conditioning on the general partners’ (GPs’) past records. This result is largely driven by preferential access of top LPs to top AVs. Returns in PE increasingly depend on the match between GPs and LPs and both parties’ outside options.

In this study, we are the first to examine the role of domestic and foreign venture capital and private equity firms (VCPEs) in Indian firms. We find robust evidence to indicate that portfolio firms backed by foreign VCPEs incorporate effective governance structures in the post-IPO period. Specifically, these firms are associated with smaller, more independent and gender-diverse boards. Furthermore, our results suggest that foreign VCPEs continue their association with their portfolio firms in the post-IPO period by nominating directors to the boards. Our results also suggest that portfolio firms backed by foreign VCPEs are associated with better long-term operating performance and profitability. We note that this positive effect is exacerbated by the presence of VCPE nominated directors on the boards. Collectively, our results provide credence to the view that good governance practices are key to long term success of a business, especially in economies that may lack good legal systems, developed financial markets and a variety of alternative investment opportunities and where developing trust between parties involved in a transaction is more important.

The market for bourbon whiskey is booming. Demand is so great that bourbon aficionados regularly line up overnight for the chance to purchase a single bottle and high-end bourbons are allocated to consumers via lotteries. The prevalence of such non-price allocation mechanisms, however, leads to reselling in secondary markets. To characterize bourbon secondary markets, we first provide a rich description of how they function. We then use 2011 to 2019 whiskey auction data in a repeat sales regression framework to develop a novel price index for rare and vintage bourbons. Our repeat sales approach suggests that bourbon prices are increasing by about 9.1% per year over our sample period. We complement those estimates by developing a second price index using unique data from an illicit peer-to-peer secondary market that operated on a major social network between 2014 and 2017. Our estimates suggest that price increases are similar, at least during common sample periods, in our auction-house and peer-to-peer settings. We also examine how bourbon’s hedonic characteristics are related to secondary market prices and develop hedonic estimates of annual returns that range between 13.1% and 18.8%. While our sample period is relatively short, when examining bourbon’s potential as an alternative investment we find that the addition of bourbon can improve the risk-return ratio of typical stock/bond portfolios.

While investor surveys have been conducted by accounting firms, banks, and consultants to assess the choices for a specific alternative investment style, the general focus of these surveys has not been on the process of manager selection. What is missing from these surveys is how decisions are made. To fill that gap, we conducted an extensive survey of alternative investment investors and managers who are members of the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association (CAIA) that focused on the alternative investment manager selection process. Our research surveyed investors and managers to gain insight on the key variables they employ to support manager selection and better understand how they conduct due diligence across alternative investments. Manager skill assessment for alternative investments is more difficult than selecting traditional investment managers and requires greater qualitative analysis of the philosophy, culture, and processes of the manager. Key Findings ▪ Alternative investment manager selection is a complex process that relies on both quantitative and qualitative analysis that cannot be captured through specific empirical measures of skill. ▪ Qualitative factors for alternative manager skill assessment are equally or more important than the quantitative assessment of alternative managers. The operational due diligence of manager business risk can dominate or override assessment of investment skill and is critical to the manager selection process. ▪ The manager selection process is tailored to the strategy being reviewed. Thus, the specific issues or factors involved with choosing a private equity manager are very different from factors associated with a systematic hedge fund manager.

The recent growth in economic and financial markets has brought the focus on energy derivatives as an alternative investment class for investors, financial analysts, and portfolio managers. The financial modeling and risk management of portfolios using the energy derivatives instrument is a requirement and challenge for researchers in the field. The energy and other commodity futures force the expert investors to investigate the broader investment spectrum and consequently diversify their portfolios using the futures instruments. Going beyond the conventional portfolios and developing out-of-the-box strategies that comply with the changing financial and economic advancements are the keys to long-term sustainability in the financial world. This study investigates the impact of diversification with five energy futures from January 2011 to July 2020 on three traditional commodity futures portfolios. The results show that diversification increased the returns while simultaneously reducing the portfolio volatility in all portfolios. The diversified portfolios provided higher returns than the traditional portfolios for the same level of risk. This study also revealed that the results might improve when a short position in the futures contracts is allowed. Moreover, we conclude that adding multiple energy futures in a portfolio provides enhanced diversification results, whereas the WTI crude oil futures fail to diversify any portfolio considered in the study.

The purpose of this study is to determine and analyze the performance comparison of stocks, cryptocurrencies and gold that can be used as an alternative investment in the era of digitalization. The population in this study is the monthly closing price of LQ45 shares, JKII shares, bitcoin and gold from January 2015 - December 2020, which is 72 datas in each comparison. The sampling technique of this research is saturated samples. The analytical method used is the comparative method and the data used are secondary data. Data is calculated using the Microsoft Excel program based on the formula of each variable. The data was processed statistically using the SPSS application, the Kruskall-Wallis Test. The results of this study indicate that there are significant differences between LQ45 stocks, Syariah stocks, bitcoin, and gold when measured from risk, sharpe performance’s measure, and treynor’s performance’s measure. Then, there are no significant difference between LQ45 stocks, Syariah stocks, bitcoin, and gold when measured from return and jensen's performance measure.

The performance of alternative strategies is notoriously challenging to analyze. Beside the fact that managers often profess to be agnostic as to the kind of risk they should be taking, investors often seek a well-defined risk management process. The current literature provides solid insights as to the benefit of various forms of risk factor analysis, the results of which can then be used as a means to assess actual manager performance. This article follows on that line of thought, with an important modification: the use of rolling betas relative to a qualitatively identified public market proxy. We find that our results point to significant volatility in betas, suggesting that managers indeed vary their market risk exposure over time; on the other hand, we find that alphas derived from this methodology tend to be lower and less volatile than those computed based on a fixed strategic risk exposure. We postulate that our results may well be more representative of reality. TOPICS:Real assets/alternative investments/private equity, performance measurement, analysis of individual factors/risk premia, risk management Key Findings ▪ Hedge fund performance is notoriously difficult to assess, particularly relative to a market benchmark. Trying to allocate return between market or risk exposure and skill and to allocate excess return between tactical risk management and security or instrument selection has been quite difficult. ▪ Performance analysis practices within the asset management industry cover a wide range of approaches from peer comparisons to public market benchmarks. ▪ The use of statistically computed beta factors relative to a qualitatively-derived principal strategy risk can afford a better perspective of public market opportunities and thus of relative performance analysis as compared with a public market benchmark.

The aim of the article: The crisis, both in the economic and financial markets, can lead to a sudden downturn and a loss of savings. For this reason, during a crisis, safe investments are essential to reduce risks and avoid losses. This year’s coronavirus pandemic has caused a lot of confusion in the financial and investment world as well.The pandemic led to turbulence in the financial market and made investors look for the so-called safe havens. In the literature, these havens often include alternative investments with a high demand for gold. This article aims to check the validity of using gold as an investment during a pandemic. Methodology: In the paper, in order to achieve the formulated aim, the following stages were carried out: critical analysis of the literature regarding the factors influencing investment decisions and the characteristics alternatives instruments. The last stage was based on statistical analysis using the Pearson correlation method. Gold prices were compared with quotations of two price indexes: WIG20 and S&P500. Results of the research: The conducted analysis shows that gold as an alternative investment is a good hedge in times of crisis, therefore, it is also the case during ongoing pandemic. Alternative assets fulfill a hedging function, minimizing the risk of losses. Moreover, thanks to a negative correlation with the market, they give a possibility to increase investors’ capital in times of crisis.

he spread of Covid-19 in Europe has affected our way of living, thinking, and even investing. The fear of the epidemic caused a context of maximum uncertainty and volatility in financial markets, which were driven by fear of the spread of the epidemic. In this article we propose an algorithmic trading system on the future of the Eurostoxx 50 that, instead of following technical indicators, follows the number of cases confirmed by Covid-19 in Europe. The back test of this system carried out throughout the weeks of confinement shows that the system is profitable. In this context, confirmed cases data is useful to assess investors’ mood and anticipate the evolution of the market. Therefore, an alternative way of investing arises for maximum uncertainty contexts, based exclusively on behavioral finance.

The author reviews the relative risks of hedge fund investing using various commonly used measures, including market betas, correlations, and portfolio drawdowns. Historically, the data show that hedge funds have hedged a fair degree of systematic market risk, especially in the early years, offering meaningful diversification benefits to traditional stock/bond portfolios. However, the diversification benefits for investors in hedge funds have since declined, though they have not altogether been eliminated. Most recently, during the 2020 pandemic, modest drawdown benefits bore out for hedge fund investors, although again much less so than in the earlier years. TOPICS:Real assets/alternative investments/private equity, portfolio construction, risk management, performance measurement, mutual fund performance, factor-based models, financial crises and financial market history Key Findings ▪ This article extends “Hedge Fund Alpha: Cycle or Sunset” (Sullivan 2021) with a focus on the relative risk of hedge funds versus a stock-only as well as more diversified portfolios that seek to blend hedge funds, stocks, and bonds. ▪ The hedging away of systematic risk by hedge funds appears to be diminishing in recent years, in part due to rising correlations between stocks and hedge funds, now approaching 90%. ▪ Drawdowns for various hedge fund composite portfolios during the turbulent periods of 2008 and 2020 have been more in line with those seen by a traditional 50/50 stock/bond portfolio. ▪ However, within the universe of hedge funds, some strategies have delivered more meaningful diversification benefits.

High market values and the recognition of its investment potential have made art a source of collateral for loans. Firms specializing in art lending have emerged to serve this market. This study explores the effect of regional variations in economic and financial conditions on art-backed lending activities. We show that demand for art loans increases when the economy experiences a downturn and liquidity needs are high. We compare the demand for art-secured loans with home equity loans and test a pecking order theory for the borrowing of high-net-worth individuals. The findings suggest that art as substitute collateral is increasingly used when home equity loans are difficult to obtain. TOPICS:Real assets/alternative investments/private equity, real estate, wealth management Key Findings ▪ With the expansion of the high-end market for art and increased attention to its economic value in recent years, art has become an asset that can serve as loan collateral. The Uniform Commercial Code, under which debtors retain possession while creditors can register their security interest in the collateral, may also facilitate some of the art-backed lending in the United States. ▪ Using various regional economic performance measures, this study shows that some collectors borrow when the economy does not perform well. This supports the hypothesis that art may serve, in certain circumstances, as emergency collateral to smooth adverse economic shocks. ▪ Art is used as collateral when home equity loans are difficult to obtain and when housing prices decline. This is also consistent with the hypothesis that collectors borrow from nonbank creditors in times of financial distress to meet liquidity needs.

We provide a comprehensive examination of the return performance of closed-end, private equity real estate (PERE) funds relative to the performance of listed real estate stocks (real estate investment trusts [REITs]) and the NCREIF ODCE fund index. We first match each PERE fund in our sample and its realized internal rate of return and equity multiple with the return that would have been earned by an LP investor on an investment in the designated benchmark over each fund’s investment horizon. Overall, we find that closed-end PERE funds have underperformed listed REITs. In contrast, we find similar overall performance between PERE and the NCREIF ODCE fund index. We also examine the determinants of the relative performance spread between the PERE funds and the equity REIT index and find that the spread widens with interest rate environment variables (Treasury yields and default spreads) and narrows with broad macroeconomic performance indicators (growth rate of GDP). TOPICS:Real assets/alternative investments/private equity, real estate, private equity, exchange-traded funds and applications, performance measurement Key Findings ▪ Closed-end PERE funds underperform listed REITs—both on average and by the percentages of individual funds. ▪ The performance spread widens with interest rate environment variables (Treasury yields and default spreads) and narrows with broad macroeconomic performance indicators (growth rate of GDP). ▪ The overall performance between PERE and the NCREIF ODCE fund index is similar.

This article draws its primary motivation from the steady rise in the participation and involvement of venture capital/private equity (VC/PE) funds in the Indian IPO market over the last couple of decades. The study explores the involvement quality of the VC/PE managers and its impact on the long-run equity and operating performance of Indian firms issuing securities through initial public offerings (IPOs). Using data for 173 IPOs backed by VC/PE funding (out of a total of 625 IPOs) from 2000 to 2016, the authors show that post-issue, both equity market performance and operating performance of these VC/PE-backed IPOs are unimpressive in general. The information asymmetry, mispricing, and ‘timing the market’ do not seem to be reasons for such long-term underperformance. The authors argue that it may be a case of too much money chasing too few winners in the Indian VC/PE-backed IPO market. The study utilizes a unique, hand-collected data set (from IPO prospectuses) on VC/PE firms’ involvement quality. Findings indicate that the duration and the size of the stake that the VC/PE firms hold in the pre-issue period positively affect the post-issue performance of IPOs. These findings lend support to the previously theorized ‘monitoring’ and ‘certification’ role of VC/PE firms. TOPICS:Real assets/alternative investments/private equity, private equity, emerging markets, performance measurement, legal/regulatory/public policy, financial crises and financial market history Key Findings ▪ Both long-term market and operating performance of VC/PE-backed IPOs in India from 2000 to 2016 were unimpressive. ▪ The quality of VC/PE involvement has some impact on the post-IPO performance of investee firms. ▪ The VC/PE-backed IPOs are not engaged in timing (hot and cold periods) the market.

The research Private equity investing has risen to prominence in the modern business world. The purpose of the study is to determine whether private equity influences the financial performance of a company. This study uses a quantitative approach to attain its primary purpose. In order to determine the effect of private equity on the financial performance of a company, this study uses data from the Thomson Reuters database for the years 2012 to 2020 . There are 54 companies in the database that are supported by private equity. The study is limited since Thomson Reuters lacks financial data for the remaining companies. For the purpose of determining the effects of private equity on firm financial performance, the panel regression of the pooled OLS and random model is employed. return on investment of private equity funds as the dependent variable. The study covered independent factors such as private equity fund size, stakes, number of transactions, and capital invested. In the investment industry, these characteristics are essential for explaining private equity. According to the findings of our study, several the explanatory variables have a statistically significant impact on the firm's financial performance. This shows that the private equity fund has a positive effect on the firm's financial success, while the other independent factors have no effect on the return on private equity.

This chapter investigates the impact of central banks' unconventional monetary policies on sectors of unique and traditional alternative investments beyond the stock market. More specifically, authors examine how quantitative easing (QE) programs, imposed by the FED and the ECB during the financial crisis, affected the fine wine market and rare coins in comparison with real estate, commodities, and crude oil. The methodology used in this chapter includes multiple regression analysis. As dependent variables, the LVX 50 Index, the Rare Coin Values Index, the REIT Index, the CRB Commodity Index and the Crude Oil Futures Index, are used for each sector respectively. Our empirical analysis shows that the QE programs applied had different outcomes between our sample markets. Thus, investors should evaluate the signals associated with the announcements of prospective monetary policies in their attempt to achieve a sufficient portfolio diversification and to harvest superior returns at the same time.

Endowed institutions and other investors, if they choose to be active rather than indexed, can benefit by considering as potential investments every asset class and strategy in the world. Such unconstrained investing is supported by finance theory, which says that constraints on active bets are always costly in terms of return, conditional on the active management in question being successful (adding alpha) in the first place. Endowment funds are free to do many things that other investors are not, making them more likely to succeed at active management than other classes of institutions or individuals. However, the performance of these funds has varied materially over time, with a recent long period of underperformance, so the success of the endowment model is not guaranteed. Part of this underperformance is due to the high costs of the alternative investments that distinguish endowment-model portfolios from more traditional portfolios, so investors adopting the endowment model should pay special attention to fund fees and other costs. TOPICS:Portfolio theory, portfolio construction, foundations & endowments, performance measurement Key Findings ▪ The endowment model of investing is just a form of active management and is not a magic formula for making (or losing) money. ▪ Many endowed institutions are free to make substantial bets—on alternative investments, large deviations from policy portfolios, and unconventional structures—that other institutions cannot. ▪ This freedom should increase the alpha earned by endowments, provided that they are capable of earning alpha in the first place.

Do hedge funds receive special treatment from their prime brokers in initial public offering (IPO) allocations? Using a comprehensive dataset, the authors examine investment banks’ allocations of IPOs to their hedge fund clients. They find that investment banks/prime brokers that have business relationships with hedge funds tend to allocate more IPOs to those hedge funds when the banks are the lead underwriters. Moreover, the size of allocation to hedge funds is larger when IPOs are underpriced, and allocations are larger during bear equity markets. The authors document that younger funds or funds with recent poor performance tend to receive relatively larger allocations of underpriced IPOs. The size of these allocations is determined by the strength of the funds’ relationships with their prime brokers, rather than by the level of their managers’ skill. This is supported by the finding that, even after receiving relatively large allocations of underpriced IPOs, these funds fail to generate significant alphas. TOPICS:Security analysis and valuation, exchanges/markets/clearinghouses, real assets/alternative investments/private equity, performance measurement Key Findings ▪ Investment banks that act as prime brokers for hedge funds and are lead underwriters of IPOs tend to allocate larger amounts of underpriced IPOs to their hedge fund clients. ▪ Investment banks tend to allocate a larger amount to their clients during bear equity markets, with younger funds and those with poor recent performance receiving relatively larger allocations. ▪ Investment banks reward those clients that have stronger relationship with them. The skills of hedge fund managers do not drive the favorable allocations.

Studies show that the world of finance is not standing still; new methods and tools of attracting and using financial capital are constantly appearing. This, in turn, allows you to implement modern, more complex, strategies for managing profitability and risk of financial transactions. One such tool is hedge funds, which today are the most objective indicators of the development of the global financial system. This is due to the fact that they not only use modern financial technologies to make a profit, but also adapt all their actions to any changes in the world economy and international finance, and sometimes, as practice shows, shape these changes. That is why this investment instrument is one of the most popular in the European and American markets. Their high flexibility attracts the most talented financial managers to hedge funds, who are able to demonstrate impressive long-term results. The purpose of the article is development of an international investment project «Creating a hedge fund with Ukrainian investments» and evaluating its effectiveness. Hedge funds are a specific class of alternative investment funds that use modern capital management strategies, which are not available to «traditional» funds, have the right to invest their participants in any assets, use a hedging strategy for capital management, i.e. simultaneous purchase and sale of assets, trading in various instruments. This is the fastest growing segment of the financial market. The specifics of their activities allow hedge funds to make a profit even during periods of falling stock and bond markets. Hedge funds focus on the maximum return in terms of optimal (specified) risk or the minimum risk in terms of optimal return. Recently, complex algorithms and analytical methods have been developed to attract artificial intelligence for creating profit. Hedge funds are of special interest to Ukraine, but, unfortunately, have not yet appeared in our country. The lack of hedge funds in Ukraine is explained by the lack of necessary laws to regulate the derivatives market; insufficiently active stock market; psychological unpreparedness of domestic investors for possible high risks; lack of qualified specialists. It is proposed to turn to foreign experience and attract the organizational tools that are available today. Namely, to open hedge funds under the jurisdiction of offshore countries and with the involvement of outsourcing for their management and operation. It proposed the creation of a closed, unregulated, discrete hedge fund. The completed calculations of the project for a period of five years demonstrated its feasibility with a positive value of net present value, a discounted payback period of four years and a profitability index of more than one unit.