“Starting from hedge funds’s roots in Shogunate Japan, Frank Travers has written a truly comprehensive book on hedge fund analysis. Pulling from his years of experience as a hedge fund allocator, Travers offers insights that heretofore could only be learned on the job. With a colorful writing style and a robust sense of history, Hedge Fund Analysis is as interesting for the experience hedge fund professional as it is compelling for the novice. This book is a must read for anyone interested in hedge fund research.”―Bruce MacDonald, Chief Investment Officer, Simple Alternatives
“As the title suggests, it is a no non-sense guide to the exercise of selecting hedge funds, that uses a sober and methodical language – among the few whimsical items are the fictional hedge fund organisation (FCM) and some dry quips.”―Opalesque
With more than 8,000 hedge funds in existence today, the process of identifying, analyzing, allocating, and actively monitoring a short list of funds that meet your specific needs is harder than ever before.
While effective hedge fund analysis can be conducted in various ways and employ a myriad of models and techniques, the basic elements of the process are always the same. It requires answering essential questions that involve all aspects of the hedge fund business, including personnel, underlying investment strategy and risk, competitive advantages or “edge,” back office and operations, administration, legal matters, financial issues, marketing, client service, transparency, liquidity, reporting, and more.
With over two decades of experience analyzing alternative and traditional investment strategies and managers, author Frank Travers knows what it takes to excel at this difficult endeavor. And now, with Hedge Fund Analysis, he shares his extensive insights with you.
Divided into two informative parts, this comprehensive resource provides background information including the history of hedge funds, a discussion of their pros and cons, and how the asset class fits into diversified institutional portfolios in Part One, and then moves on to detail a template for hedge fund due diligence in Part Two. To illustrate how the process works, Travers has created a fictional hedge fund organization and takes you through each step of the due diligence process, peeling back the onion one layer at a time so that you’ll ultimately discover how to distill the massive amounts of information you’re bombarded with and make informed and intelligent investment decisions. Throughout the book, you’ll gain valuable insights on:
- Data collection and interviewing techniques
- Performance and strategy analysis
- Operational and risk assessments
- Legal and financial analysis
- Quantitative hedge fund scoring
- And much more
Created for the serious financial professional as well as anyone else looking to evaluate and understand how hedge funds work, this no-nonsense guide will put you in a better position to excel in this competitive arena.
From the Back Cover
With more than 8,000 hedge funds in existence today, the process of identifying, analyzing, allocating, and actively monitoring a short list of funds that meet your specific needs is harder than ever before.
While effective hedge fund analysis can be conducted in various ways and employ a myriad of models and techniques, the basic elements of the process are always the same. It requires answering essential questions that involve all aspects of the hedge fund business, including personnel, underlying investment strategy and risk, competitive advantages or “edge,” back office and operations, administration, legal matters, financial issues, marketing, client service, transparency, liquidity, reporting, and more.
With over two decades of experience analyzing alternative and traditional investment strategies and managers, author Frank Travers knows what it takes to excel at this difficult endeavor. And now, with Hedge Fund Analysis, he shares his extensive insights with you.
Divided into two informative parts, this comprehensive resource provides background information including the history of hedge funds, a discussion of their pros and cons, and how the asset class fits into diversified institutional portfolios in Part One, and then moves on to detail a template for hedge fund due diligence in Part Two. To illustrate how the process works, Travers has created a fictional hedge fund organization and takes you through each step of the due diligence process, peeling back the onion one layer at a time so that you’ll ultimately discover how to distill the massive amounts of information you’re bombarded with and make informed and intelligent investment decisions. Throughout the book, you’ll gain valuable insights on:
- Data collection and interviewing techniques
- Performance and strategy analysis
- Operational and risk assessments
- Legal and financial analysis
- Quantitative hedge fund scoring
- And much more
Created for the serious financial professional as well as anyone else looking to evaluate and understand how hedge funds work, this no-nonsense guide will put you in a better position to excel in this competitive arena.
About the Author
FRANK J. TRAVERS, CFA, is a portfolio manager at Larch Lane Advisors. He has over two decades of experience analyzing traditional long-only, private equity, and hedge fund strategies. Previously, he was the director of research at First Peninsula Capital and a portfolio manager at Pine Street Advisors and CIC Group. Additionally, he held positions as the director of due diligence at CIBC World Markets, associate director of international equity research at Evaluation Associates, and senior analyst positions at Morgan Stanley Asset Management and RCB Trust. Travers is the author of Investment Manager Analysis: A Comprehensive Guide to Portfolio Selection, Monitoring, and Optimization, also published by Wiley. He received his BS in finance from St. John’s University and his MBA from Fordham University.
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