The Financial Standard – While global hedge funds continue to outperform global equities, the big news is that they are doing it for only one-third the risk.<\/p>\n
The latest GreenwichVan Hedge Fund Index report for January 2006 shows that the S&P 500 scored a return, in local currency terms, of 10.3 per cent for the 12 month period, even though the corresponding return from global hedge funds was 12.2 per cent.<\/p>\n
But it\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s the risk story behind global hedge funds that is emerging as the real driver behind the sector as it gains acceptance as a mainstream asset class by more traditional investors, particularly with alternative strategies tipped to reach 20 per cent over the next few years.<\/p>\n
Reinforcing the risk perspective, over the all important five year period global hedge funds outperformed global equities by a factor of 20, but they did it for only one-third the risk quotient.<\/p>\n
On the back of this stability of risk in the global hedge fund sector, Van MacDonald Global Partners, local partner of the GreenwichVan group in Australia, is introducing the \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00cb\u0153AAA\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2 Rabobank Structured Hedge Fund Note to Australian investors that will be underpinned by the global hedge fund index that they monitor.<\/p>\n