Hedge Funds Compete with Liquid Alt Managers in the RIA Market

Hedge fund managers have begun to consider marketing to a broader audience — particularly independent wealth managers. Although exact figures for the U.S. are not available, some surveys suggest that less than 20 percent of alternative assets under management is allocated by wealth managers. Unlike family offices, which have been a target market since the hedge fund industry’s inception, registered investment advisers (RIAs) in the prior regulatory environment were more difficult to approach.

Since most RIA practices have a client base encompassing a blend of both accredited and nonaccredited investors, it was challenging to market to the audience without potentially running afoul of private placement rules. The new regulations allow performance data and fund specifics to be broadly advertised, although investments are still restricted to qualified individuals. These rules put private fund offerings in a similar place as registered products when reaching out to RIAs.

In a cycle that is tough for raising assets under management, the prospect of a fresh pool of investors would seem to be a dream come true. But many industry professionals believe that the rise of so-called liquid alternative products — mutual funds and exchange-traded products that provide nontraditional strategies in a registered format — will stymie the efforts of these latecomers. “It’s an asset grab, and some of the biggest alternative managers such as AQR [Capital Management] have been successfully operating alternative mutual funds aimed at the adviser market for years,” says Julie Cooling, founder and CEO of RIA Database, a Charlotte, North Carolina–based firm that provides data and analysis of the independent wealth management industry for asset managers. “Hedge funds will find it difficult to sell higher-fee, lower-liquidity products in the space.”

“近年来，顾问胃口的明确变化，”Quaker活动套利基金的博览会经理Thomas Kirchner说。“当我们开始时，投资者的怀疑态度。感知是，如果你真的很聪明，你就会运行对冲基金而不是共同基金。“

Kirchner是液体替代空间的先驱。11月，他庆祝了他的基金第十周年，被称为宾夕法尼亚州大道事件驱动的基金，直到2010年6月，它与宾夕法尼亚州宾夕法尼亚州的Quaker基金合并。Kirchner的公司现在占替代战略2.85亿美元，总体上超过3.5亿美元。在十年平均年度的年度基础上，事件套利基金在HFRI事件驱动索引的60个基点以内并具有低于索引的波动曲线。

Kirchner回声冷却费用压缩将是对冲基金的最大障碍。“让我们这样做：即使你有卓越的表现，也很难证明2和20，”在第一个湄公河和Banque Nationale de Paris在推出他的基金之前工作的Kirchner说。

Whereas many hedge fund managers concede this point, others remain optimistic. “The simple answer is, like with anything, if you’ve got the goods, you can charge higher fees,” says Neal Berger, president of New York–based hedge fund firm Eagle’s View Capital Management. “If you’re a fund manager really doing something interesting — exploiting a unique niche opportunity — then you will find an audience.”

Berger’s firm operates a multimanager fund and advises wealth managers, family offices and ultra-high-net-worth individuals on hedge fund allocations. Eagle’s View specializes in managers outside crowded spaces like long-short equities. Berger and his portfolio managers believe that by identifying truly noncorrelated alpha niche strategies, they will be able to continue to charge a premium for their services.

Some managers straddle both sides of the debate. Stamford, Connecticut–based SummerHaven Investment Management offers private investment vehicles available exclusively to institutional investors, as well as a series of alternative ETF products focused on active strategies in the commodities markets. According to SummerHaven partner Kurt Nelson, this dual-track approach has paid off. “We are looking to deliver diversified commodity products to all classes of investors,” says Nelson. “We launched our ETF products specifically to provide access to advisers who were looking for exchange-traded liquidity and low fees.”

尼尔森于2010年创立了Summerhaven，与他的前高级瑞银商品行政Ashraf Rizvi和K. Geert Rouwenhorst，目前副院长的耶鲁管理学院副院长和商品投资专家。据纳尔逊称，对冲基金正在考虑进入液体alt空间的进入需要逼真的，并了解注册基金宇宙的竞争日益增加。

“我们设法成长，因为我们正在做不同的事情，”他说。“我认为这是液体替代空间成功的关键。你需要价格竞争力;你必须有一个真正的战略，而不是噱头;你的战略必须工作。没有人可以在没有表现的情况下赢得胜利。“

对于大型，建立的对冲基金，法规的变化最终可能是一个无限制的。“在加利福尼亚州拉霍纳的康顿首都顾问兼咨询总经理Jay Ramey说，业务中的传奇名称不需要。“无论如何，他们希望采取更公开的营销方法。他们最有可能维持有限公司的神秘程度。“

Triton, an independent alternative investment consulting firm, advises wealth managers, financial advisers and institutions on alternative allocations and manager selection. According to Ramey, emerging managers will not be so fortunate, however. “With increased regulation, there are a lot of new barriers for start-up managers,” he says. Ramey and his colleagues predict that this higher bar will prevent smaller managers from reaching the critical mass needed to steal market share from the established firms in either the private or public fund space.

更多地获得更多注册投资顾问.