8:00 - 8:30am

Registration and Breakfast

An Introduction to Hedge Funds
Associate Professor Melvyn Teo

• Overview of the hedge fund industry: producers, consumers, facilitators, regulators
• Hedge fund business model, alphas, contracts, and incentives
• Evolution of the industry, style, fund age, size, clientele
• Hedge fund fraud: lessons from Bayou Management and Bernard Madoff
• HBS Case: The Common Fund Hedge Fund Portfolio

Hedge Fund Strategies
Associate Professor Melvyn Teo

• Risks of equity-oriented and trend following hedge fund strategies
• Fees, incentives, fund size, and performance
• Persistence in hedge fund performance
• The geography of hedge funds
• HBS Case: Numeric Investors

Lessons from the Harvard Endowment Fund
Associate Professor Melvyn Teo

• HBS Case: Harvard Management Company
• Why manage internally?
• What are the risks of its positions in the equity, commodities, and fixed income markets?
• What motivated their dual listing, balance sheet, closed-end fund, and synthetic treasury trades?
• What are the challenges that it faces in attracting and retaining talent?

Fund Manager Perspectives: Fixed Income Strategies
Dr Bart Broadman, Alphadyne Asset Management

• What are different stylistic approaches to distressed debt investing?
• What are the key analytical issues?
• Which skills, techniques and perspectives are needed?

Fund Manager Perspectives: Value Investing in Emerging Markets
Mr Tan Chin Hwee, Apollo Fund Management

• What are the skill sets needed in value investing?
• How does one minimize risk when investing in emerging markets stocks and bonds?
• How does one uncover and avoid accounting fraud?

Breakfast

Capital formation and the impact of hedge fund regulations
Professor William Fung

• The institutionalization of the hedge funds industry
• Its implication on the flow of capital, performance trends, and regulation
• The impact of investor preferences and regulator concerns on future hedge fund product offerings

How should investors allocate capital across hedge funds?
Professor Willian Fung

• How should capital be allocated given hedge fund performance and risk?
• Evolution of hedge fund products – is there enough alpha to pay for fees?
• Do transparent and liquid hedge fund products at low fees exist?

Risk management lessons from LTCM and recent events
Professor William Fung

• HBS case: Long Term Capital Management
• What drives performance – home runs or picking pennies in front of steam rollers?
• A “tale” of two risks – do we know how to manage tail risks?
• The leverage in hedge fund strategies – food or poison?

Conversation with a Vetaran Hedge Fund Investor
Mr James Liu, OAKS Family Office

• How should one go about selecting hedge funds?
• Whar are the lessons from the crisis for hedge fund investors?
• Have fund fees, incentive structures, transparency, and liquidity improved since the crisis?