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“Trust, but Verify”. April 20 th , 2011 FIRMA Annual Conference Atlanta, GA. W. A. (Trey) Ruch, III Executive Managing Director Sterne Agee Group truch@sterneagee.com. Quote for the Day. “If stock market experts were so expert, they would be buying stock, not selling advice.”
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“Trust, but Verify” April 20th , 2011 FIRMA Annual Conference Atlanta, GA W. A. (Trey) Ruch, III Executive Managing Director Sterne Agee Group truch@sterneagee.com
Quote for the Day “If stock market experts were so expert, they would be buying stock, not selling advice.” Norman Augustine RetiredLockheed Martin CEO
Y is Due Diligence Performed? Understanding , investigating, and reporting the full range of primary known risks of any given hedge fund strategy and structure which can lead to significant loss of investor’s capital Usually to Answer a Binary Query: Invest/Don’t Invest? Remain Invested/Divest? Avoidance of Dire Consequences Illiquid and Frozen Capital Losses Worse than Worst Case Scenario Fraud or Defalcation
ISO Qualified Managers • Conviction-Willing to put investment decisions ahead of business decision • Consistency-does not change style to conform to current market sentiment • Pragmatism-understand market efficiency and focuses on competitive edge • Investment Culture-passionate and proper organizational and comp structures • Risk Controls-not blind takers/acknowledge mistakes/appropriate controls • Active Return-long-term positive information ratios
High Level DD Focus • Profile • People • Philosophy • Process • Price • Performance
Traditional Quantitative Focus • Quantitative Screening: • Returns relative to benchmark • Returns relative to peers • Risk Measures • Alpha • Information Ratio • Up/Down Capture Ratios • Sharpe Ratios • If Performance is an Outlier, is it Sustainable and Repeatable? • Holdings Based and Returns Based Attribution Analysis: • What is the source of outperformance? • Style Rotation • Security Selection • Sector Allocation
Alternatives-Magnified Risks • Leverage-reasonableness standard varies across strategies • Operations-Complexity of derivatives, leverage, and complicated trading techniques • Fraud-Lack of transparency and level of complexity • Liquidity-illiquid underlying positions and valuation risks
Alternatives-New DD Considerations • Increased Regulation-Staffing, systems, affordability • 2008 Recovery-Will funds swing for the fences? • Financing Challenges-Availability of leverage/financing and stable terms? • 2008 Recovery Challenges-Swing for the fences mentality • Redemptions-liquidity demands are up and fees are down….asset/liability mismatch?