Opalesque這家另類投資界的媒體，近日有發表關於HMF 的觀察報導,是值得看看，其中也引用一家 K&L Gates 在研討會中發表有關避險基金產業發展現狀簡報，其內容就提到有關HMF的資訊，值得一看。
一個綜合共同基金、避險基金投資概念、投資工具的新投資載具，已經成形了。
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Hedged mutual funds (HMFs) may be a dominant trend in next hedge fund industry cycle By Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque London:
Last year, hedge funds lost on average 20%. But mutual funds lost around twice as much. However, there is a marked trend towards a convergence between the two styles and structures, particularly in the U.S.
Mutual funds have been under pressure for a while, what with underperformance and competition from the better-yielding alternative investment funds, and the cheaper ETFS and other index funds. So they are starting to use the clever tools that came out of the investment world's laboratories, namely: alternative investment funds, to generate higher returns. So the retail market can now access such tools as shorting, leverage (although not as much as with hedge funds due to regulations), derivatives, etc. for less fees, more transparency, better liquidity and more regulatory oversight.
Naik, Agarwal and Boyson, in their 2007 working paper entitled "Hedge Funds for Retail Investors? An Examination of Hedged Mutual Funds" (Hedge Fund Centre, London Business School) predicted that "...hedged mutual funds will play an increasingly important role in the field of investment management as they provide access to hedge-fund like strategies with the fee structure, liquidity, and regulatory requirements of mutual funds."
Next cycle?
According to a Greenwich, CT based consultancy firm Lake Partners' report on The State of the Hedge Fund Industry, produced in conjunction with international law firm K&L Gates and presented by webinar on 30 June-09, the hedge fund industry has had quite a few cycles of renaissance and wreckage including:
Cycle 1 - 1949-1970s, started with A.W. Jones, ending in the "dark ages";
Cycle 2 - 1980-1990, Golden Era cumulating to a market correction;
Cycle 3 - 1991-94, recovery and "masters of the universe";
Cycle 4 - 1995-98, bull market to margin calls;
Cycle 5 - 1999-2002, bull market ending in bear market;
Cycle 6 - 2003-2009, from institutionalisation to retrenchment.
The next cycle in the hedge fund industry chronicles might well be that of convergence between styles and structures for greater access to the retail market.
Democratization of alternative strategies
Lake Partners noted a definite trend towards democratization of alternative strategies as the latter is moving into mutual funds.
It all started in 1997 with the SEC's repeal of the "short-short" Rule, when the first mutual fund practitioners initiated more hedging. The following year, the first dedicated "hedge mutual funds" were created. (Note: Here is a link to a related research paper by K-H. Bae and J. Yi, which found that the timing performance of mutual fund managers improved significantly after the short-short rule repeal: "The Impact of the Short-Short Rule Repeal on the Timing Ability of Mutual Funds".)
According to Forbes.com, Robert Gordon, CEO of New York-based investment firm Twenty-First Securities, pioneered the mutual fund with a hedge fund style earlier than that, in 1985 in fact, under the management of now legendary money runner Robert Stovall - although the fund never became profitable. Gordon says he still thinks they're a good idea. "But they don't have the same cache" as a hedge fund. "You don't get the same thrill."
Now, we are seeing a rapid growth in AuM and in the variety of the alternative mutual funds and structures. Indeed, the alternative mutual fund industry has grown from $1.3bn in 1997 to $100bn (est.) in 2009 (YTD).
Hedge funds and other asset managers launching alternative mutual funds
It is not just mutual funds that are launching funds using alternative strategies; there is also a trend of hedge fund managers launching mutual funds - as they seek to attract capital from the retail market. Indeed, one can invest in such a fund with only a few thousand dollars.
Greenwich, CT-based hedge fund firm AQR Capital Management for example, is now offering new mutual funds. David Kabiller, founding principal of AQR, told ConnPost.com earlier this month that he did not think this trend would catch on among hedge funds: "There's a lot of cost and oversight to developing a mutual fund company. To take on those costs, you have to be able to innovate those products."
Only this month, we heard of U.S. firm Fred Alger Management, which is preparing to launch a long/short equity mutual fund; New York-based asset manager Van Eck Global, which is launching a new mutual fund that invests in hedge funds; Bull Path Capital Management LLC in New York, which recently converted the domestic version of its hedge fund into a mutual fund; and North Carolina-based hedge fund firm Hatteras Funds, which acquired AIP Mutual Funds, and with it the management of two mutual funds of hedge funds (see Opalesque Exclusive).
There is also U.S. investment adviser Driehaus Capital Management, which has just launched an absolute return mutual fund; FundQuest, a U.S. and European managed account services provider, which has expanded its alternative investments offering with hedge-style mutual funds; and Andrew W. Lo, the famed finance professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who has recently launched a mutual fund providing hedge-fund-like strategies.(interview video below)
By Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque London:
This is the second of a two-part article. Part One was published yesterday and can be found here Source
What are HMFs?
According to the Lake Partners report, hedged mutual funds are open-end investment companies registered under the US Investment Company Act of 1940 which implement their underlying portfolios using hedging strategies or investments on an ongoing, regular or periodic basis. Although open-end mutual funds are not the only ones in the game: registered closed-end funds, ETFs and ETNs also use these strategies.
Strategies include long/short investing, hedging (options, futures, derivatives, etc.) and alternative strategies (commodities, leverage, derivatives, illiquid private placement or distressed securities and other instruments).
Hedged mutual funds provide access to alternative strategies with lower costs, more oversight, and better liquidity and transparency than hedge funds, says the report. Their regulatory safeguards include independent custody, limitations on leverage, liquidity and daily pricing, and lower costs.
Investing in HMFs
These funds indeed offer an opportunity for investors and professionals to have greater choice, additional sources of potential returns, more tools for risk management and enhanced diversification.
Those driving the current and future marketplace for hedged mutual funds are mainly: investors (individuals, HNWIs, family offices); investment professionals (manufacturers, advisors, alternatives managers); fiduciaries, foundations, endowments; and retirements plans.
According to Investopedia.com, unlike retail hedge funds, which have higher minimums that require some level of investor accreditation, this breed of mutual fund enjoys the same level of accessibility as the more commonplace active and passive strategies available across the traditional equity and fixed income style boxes.
Traditional mutual funds' load fees are around 3% and expense ratio fees are around 1% to 2% - although there are other one-off fees too. However, according to Investopedia, HMFs' fees are often higher than those of the typical actively managed mutual fund; the fee range for hedged products can be from 2.5% to 4% or more.
HMFs underperform hedge funds but outperform mutual funds
In their study, Naik, Agarwal and Boyson found that despite their use of similar trading strategies, hedged mutual funds underperform hedge funds : "We attribute this evidence to lighter regulation and better incentives faced by hedge funds", says the paper's abstract. "In contrast, hedged mutual funds outperform traditional mutual funds. Most interesting, this superior performance is largely driven by managers with experience in implementing hedge fund strategies."
So hedge fund managers would do well in the mutual fund arena. We could also conclude from this that if hedge funds outperform HMFs due to lighter regulation, the forthcoming, heavier, regulations on hedge funds, both in Europe and in the US, might affect hedge funds' performance significantly.
The Lake Partners report estimates that hedged mutual funds (HMFs) could outperform traditional mutual funds by as much as 4.8% p.a.
A Morningstar fund analyst recently mentioned two HMFs to CNN's Money Magazine: the Merger Fund and Hussman Strategic Growth. Both move out of sync with the S&P 500 and did well during the bear market but less well in the rebound. Over the past five years, Merger has gained an annualized 6.3%, Hussman 7.5% (Morningstar is tracking some 54 HMFs).
BusinessWeek.com mentioned another HMFs last month, a fairly new offering called the Nakoma Absolute Return Fund: the fund is up almost 6% YTD, trailing the S&P 500 by about 3%, a little better than the managers' historical performance in bull markets.
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