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Two years after launching the Opalesque Roundtable Series in 2008 in Auckland, Opalesque founder Matthias Knab traveled back to the “other end of the world” (another 11 hours flight from Hong Kong...) looking for answers and the latest trends. There, a diverse group of hedge fund managers and CTAs were able to buck the global downtrend and instead cranked out a positive return of +20.4% (as measured by the Ernst & Young New Zealand Absolute Return Index) in 2008 - the year the MSCI World tanked over -40%, erasing $14trn of shareholders' wealth. In 2009, the NZARA Index, which was created in conjunction with the New Zealand Absolute Return Association (NZARA), was up +17.5%.
What is behind the clear outperformance of the New Zealanders?
As the average global hedge fund was down around -20% in 2008, the question that needs to be answered is: what is behind that clear outperformance of the New Zealanders?
And which strategies help the New Zealanders to build their asset base? Some of these managers have also set up offices in London, but why are they now “seriously questioning our commitment to being in Europe” and pondering moves to Singapore?
In this Roundtable, Neil Williams, General Manager Public Markets of the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, explains what this government pension fund thinks about hedge funds and how they are used.
Philip Crotty, Managing Director of New Zealand Assets Management believes it is a very good idea for global hedge funds to include Australasian investors in their client mix, as they “generally take a long-term view of their investments and do not redeem whenever there is turmoil in the markets.”
The Opalesque 2010 New Zealand Roundtable had the following participants:
• Neil Williams, General Manager Public Markets, New Zealand Superannuation Fund
• Anthony Limbrick, Chief Investment Officer, Pure Capital
• Charles Drace, Founder, Socrates Fund Management
• Jeremy Muir, Senior Associate, Minter Ellison Rudd Watts
• Mark Brighouse, Managing Director, Brook Asset Management
• Mark Sleeman, Founder, MS Capital Management
• Michael Gibbs-Harris, Founder, MGH Asset Management
• Mike Taylor, Founder, Pie Funds
• Peter Lawson, Counsel, Ogier
• Philip Crotty, Managing Director, New Zealand Assets Management Asia
The Roundtable was made possible by Pure Capital, who sponsored this Opalesque Roundtable, law firm Minter Ellison Rudd Watts who provided the Auckland meeting venue, and Custom House Group and Taussig Capital as the 2010 Opalesque Roundtable Series sponsors. Matthias Knab, founder of Opalesque and internationally recognized expert on hedge funds and alternatives, moderates the Opalesque Roundtables.
The Roundable can be downloaded for free at http://www.opalesque.com/
All other previously published Opalesque Roundtable Scripts can be accessed here:
http://www.opalesque.com/
About Opalesque:
In 2003, with the publication of its daily Alternative Market Briefing, Opalesque successfully launched an information revolution in the hedge fund media space: "Opalesque changed the world by bringing transparency where there was opacity and by delivering an accurate professional reporting service." - Nigel Blanchard, Culross. This hybrid financial news service, which combines proprietary industry news stories and filtered third party reports, has been credited by many industry insiders with delivering precise, accurate, and vital information to a notoriously guarded audience.
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