Hedge Funds World Conference discusses global alternative investments market

This has become more important today than ever due to the extreme turbulent financial market conditions over the last two years, after nearly a decade of bull markets.

Man Investment Products, a global leader in the alternative investment industry with around US$9.5 billion under management and the principal sponsor of the event, believes that the greater flexibility in trading styles and execution that hedge funds offer and their low correlation with traditional investment markets will ensure that the skill-based investment strategies of hedge funds will continue to grow.

The 20 per cent annual growth in the hedge funds industry during the last 10 years is expected to continue for another five to ten years. If that is the case, assets under hedge funds management will exceed US$ 3000 billion by 2010.

Antoine Massad, Associate Director and Head of Middle East and Asia, and chairman of the Hedge Funds World Conference said at the event yesterday: "Independent figures show a continuing impressive growth in the industry. In the first nine months of last year, the net capital inflow into hedge funds was over US$ 22 billion, compared to US$ 8 billion for the whole of 2000."

Investors, fund managers, banking and investment experts from across the Middle East, Europe, the US and Asia will be discussing over the next two days the global market of alternative investments in the context of the current global and Middle Eastern political, economic and business status.

Wolfgang Landl, Senior Investment Manager at Man Glenwood GmbH, a company wholly owned by Man Investment Products, told the delegates at the conference that investors who were used to realise double-digit returns in traditional markets found themselves in a fairly new situation. "In the last few years, alternative investments have not only gained substantial attention from the financial industry, but have increasingly become a streamline investment vehicle. They have successfully proven their ability to provide positive returns during periods of market crisis such as the Asian crisis in 1997 or the Technology Bubble we have been experiencing since April 2000."

The three-day conference, which kicked off yesterday at the Emirates Towers Hotel in Dubai and will continue to the 6th of February, hosts top Arab and international economists, including Antoine Massad, Associate Director and Head of Middle East and Asia at Man Investment Products. Also addressing the forum was Sohail Jaffer, Chairman of the Middle East Chapter of the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), Suresh Kumar, Managing Director of Emirates Financial Services and Mohammad Tariq, Head of Securities for Capital Markets at Arab Banking Corporation.

The conference will also review the changing face of investing from traditional asset classes to alternatives and hedge funds. It will also highlight new trends and developments in the hedge funds industry and explain the rationale behind investment strategy decisions: what do investors look for in terms of risks and returns. It will also evaluate capital allocation and risk/return criteria for different investments. Case studies from the US and Europe will be presented, highlighting the implications of increased transparency and due diligence. The performance of the hedge funds industry in 2000/2001 will also be reviewed.

Explaining his company's initiative in forerunning this event, Massad said: "Our role as a leading specialised company dedicated to providing alternative investments does not merely stop with engineering innovative and customised products for our clients. MAN has a commitment to create further awareness, whilst growing the industry."