A hedge fund is a pooled investment fund that trades in relatively liquid assets and is able to make extensive use of more complex trading, portfolio-construction, and risk management techniques in an attempt to improve performance, such as short selling, leverage, and derivatives. Financial regulators generally restrict hedge fund marketing to institutional investors, high net worth individuals, and others who are considered sufficiently sophisticated.
Private equity (PE) typically refers to investment funds, generally organized as limited partnerships, that buy and restructure companies. More formally, private equity is a type of equity and one of the asset classes consisting of equity securities and debt in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange.
D. E. Shaw & Co., L.P. is a multinational investment management firm founded in 1988 by David E. Shaw and based in New York City. The company is known for developing complicated mathematical models and sophisticated computer programs to exploit anomalies in the financial market. D. E. Shaw & Co. manages $55 billion in AUM, $35 billion of which are alternative investments and the remaining $20 billion long-oriented investments. In 2018, Institutional Investor reported that among hedge funds, D. E. Shaw & Co. had delivered the fifth-highest returns in the world since its inception.
Investcorp is a global manager of alternative investment products, for private and institutional clients. Founded in Bahrain in 1982, the firm has offices in United States, United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, India, China and Singapore. Investcorp's principal client base is in the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, but it also has institutional clients in North America, Europe and Asia.
Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) is a professional designation offered by the CAIA Association to investment professionals who complete a course of study and pass two examinations. The "alternative investments" industry is characterized as dealing with asset classes and investments other than standard equity or fixed income products. Alternative investments can include hedge funds, private equity, real assets, commodities, and structured products. The CAIA curriculum is designed to provide finance professionals with a broad base of knowledge in alternative investments.
A "fund of funds" (FOF) is an investment strategy of holding a portfolio of other investment funds rather than investing directly in stocks, bonds or other securities. This type of investing is often referred to as multi-manager investment. A fund of funds may be "fettered", meaning that it invests only in funds managed by the same investment company, or "unfettered", meaning that it can invest in external funds run by other managers.
Wellington Management Company is a private, independent investment management firm with client assets under management totaling over US$1 trillion based in Boston, United States.
Form 13F is a quarterly report filed, per United States Securities and Exchange Commission regulations, by "institutional investment managers" with control over $100M in assets to the SEC, listing all equity assets under management.
An alternative investment is an investment in any asset class excluding stocks, bonds, and cash. The term is a relatively loose one and includes tangible assets such as precious metals, collectibles and some financial assets such as real estate, commodities, private equity, distressed securities, hedge funds, exchange funds, carbon credits, venture capital, film production, financial derivatives, cryptocurrencies, and non-fungible tokens. Investments in real estate, forestry and shipping are also often termed "alternative" despite the ancient use of such real assets to enhance and preserve wealth. Alternative investments are to be contrasted with traditional investments.
Farallon Capital Management, L.L.C. is an American investment firm that manages capital on behalf of institutions and individuals. The firm was founded by Tom Steyer in 1986. Headquartered in San Francisco, California, the firm employs approximately 230 professionals in eight countries around the world.
Sculptor Capital Management is a global diversified alternative asset management firm. They are one of the largest institutional alternative asset managers in the world. The firm operates multiple investment strategies, including multi-strategy, credit and real estate. It has nearly 400 employees worldwide including offices in New York City, London, Hong Kong, Mumbai, and Shanghai.
Blackstone Credit, formerly known as GSO Capital Partners is an American privately owned hedge fund and the credit investment arm of The Blackstone Group. GSO is one of the largest credit-oriented alternative asset managers in the world and a major participant in the leveraged finance marketplace. The firm invests across a variety of credit oriented strategies and products including collateralized loan obligation vehicles investing in secured loans, hedge funds focused on special situations investments, mezzanine debt funds and private equity funds focused on rescue financing.
Brevan Howard is a European hedge fund management company based in Jersey with its funds domiciled in the Cayman islands. The company was co-founded by Alan Howard and four others in 2002. It was once described as one of the largest "macro hedge funds" in the world with $40 billion in assets under management (AUM) as of October 2013 before downsizing to $18 billion in 2016. As of June 2019, the firm manages $7 billion. By September 2020, the fund was managing around $10-billion in investor assets across its six offices globally.
AQR Capital Management is a global investment management firm based in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States. The firm, which was founded in 1998 by Cliff Asness, David Kabiller, John Liew, and Robert Krail, offers a variety of quantitatively driven alternative and traditional investment vehicles to both institutional clients and financial advisors. The firm is primarily owned by its founders and principals. AQR has additional offices in Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Bangalore, Hong Kong, London, Sydney, and Tokyo.
GCM Grosvenor is an alternative asset management firm, with over $59 billion in assets under management and approximately 500 professionals.
Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP is a global institutional alternative investment management firm with over $38 billion in assets under management. Davidson Kempner is headquartered in New York City, with additional offices in London, Dublin, Hong Kong and Philadelphia. The firm is led by Anthony A. Yoseloff who serves as Executive Managing Member and Chief Investment Officer.
Jane Buchan is the Chief Executive Officer of Martlet Asset Management, LLC.
Eaton Partners is a global placement agent that assists in raising capital for funds managed by some of the largest private equity firms, hedge funds, real assets and real estate funds in the world. The firm is also one of the oldest placement agents in the private funds industry. Eaton Partners raises capital primarily from institutional investors including private and public pension funds, endowment funds, family offices, fund of funds, foundations and other large pools of money that invest in alternative asset classes.
Geode Capital Management, LLC (Geode) is an American Investment Management firm based in Boston, Massachusetts.
Axa Investment Managers, is a global investment management firm with offices in over 22 locations worldwide. As of 31 December 2021, it manages over €887 billion in assets on behalf of institutional and retail clients. It operates as the investment arm for Axa, a global insurance and reinsurance company.
