Alternative Investments
The global alternative investment space now sits at more than $9 trillion in global assets, and we’re just getting started. Roughly 40% of RIAs are using alternative investments. With the RIA space expanding and alternative investment demand rising among investors – a surge in data, news, and opinion will continue. This channel cuts through the noise to give you the most important actionable insight.
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SP Funds has expanded its suite of Sharia-compliant funds with the launch of The SP Funds S&P Global Technology ETF (SPTE) on the New York Stock Exchange. As North America’s largest family of Shariah-compliant exchange-traded funds (ETFs), SP Funds aims to provide investors access to cutting-edge technological advancements through SPTE.
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Garry Kasparov on Artificial Intelligence: It Won’t Destroy Mankind
Garry Kasparov, the great chess grandmaster, said that AI won’t destroy, let alone replace, mankind. His comments came over the weekend in an interview with Gerry Baker of Fox Business.
Venture Capital: What the IPO Market Needs Now – To Wake Up
Casper Sleep, the online mattress retailer, has filed for its initial public offering. According to an SEC filing, the company has planned an offering at $100 million. Morgan Stanley, Jeffries Financial Group, and Goldman Sachs are leading the share sale.
Alternative Investments: Sen. Ron Wyden Dismisses Ethos’ Response to .org Domain Sale
The protest over the sudden and non-transparent sale of the .org domain to an obscure private equity firm for $1.35 billion has three Democratic Senators embroiled in it. Last month, U.S. Sens. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., with Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., questioned whether nonprofit groups, free speech, and internet users would be harmed selling control of .org domains to Ethos Capital, a private equity firm.
Alternative Investments: CalPERS May Foray Into Private Debt
CalPERS, the largest pension fund in the country, may invest in private debt to boost returns. The fund may also change its investment policy on private debt on the initiative of Chief Investment Officer Ben Meng. Meng would certainly be aware that other funds are likely raking in returns as high as 10% on private debt.
Alternative Investments: Venture Capital Joins PE in Solar Development – Mercom Capital Group Report
Mercom Capital Group reported that corporate funding for solar development topped $11.7 billion in 2019. That figure represented a sharp increase of more than 20% from the previous year. The consulting firm tracked funding last year from public markets, debt financing, venture capital, and private equity.
Artificial Intelligence: Facebook Bans Deepfake Videos… Advocates Worry
Social media firm Facebook announced that it has banned “deepfake” videos from their platform. These altered videos – typically incorporating AI – appear that people are doing or saying something that they really did not do or say.
Alternative Investments: Citigroup Will Try to Mainstream “Hedge Fund Like” Investments
Citigroup wants to bring hedge-fund-like credit investments to accredited investors. The firm is teaming up with online platform YieldStreet to bring $2 billion in assets to mass affluent investors, according to Crain’s New York Business.
JPMorgan: Beware the “Progressive Overhaul” of the Economy
JPMorgan manages $2.2 trillion for wealthy clients across the country. Its institutional alternative investment arm (JPMAAM) continues to grow and specialize for high-net-worth individuals. So, it’s always intriguing to hear what they are telling those clients about the year ahead.
Alternative Investments: Tesla’s China Strategy Drawn From Ancient Chinese War Treatise, Says Paul Holland
Elon Musk’s bold bet to make electric vehicles in China out of Tesla’s Gigagactory 3 may be a classic military strategy according to venture capitalist Paul Holland. And it draws a leaf from the 2,500-year old tome, “Art of War,” written by Sun Tzu.
China is the world’s largest market for electric vehicles.
Chinese companies are also the potentially largest competition for Elon Musk’s Tesla in its quest for global dominance in electric vehicles.
Mercer Outlook 2020: Europe Could Face Problems
The Mercer 2020 outlook came out in January. The firm expects growth to pick up somewhat in 2020, both in the United States and the rest of the world.
Alternative Investments: Battered Marijuana Stocks May Bottom Out in 2020
The brutal sell-off in marijuana stocks in 2019 has been likened to “2008 for the cannabis industry.” Others compared it to the blowout in tech stocks in 2000. Apart from the historical comparisons, what must be especially painful for pot stock investors in 2019 would be the solid returns given off by the rest of the stock market. However, according to hedge fund manager Will Meade, who is also a former Goldman Sachs analyst, 2020 presents a buying opportunity in a sector that is possibly bottoming out.
ESG and Sustainability: HSBC Bandwagons ESG, To Launch Eight ETFs
HSBC Gam plans to launch eight new environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ETF’s in the first half of 2020. Also planned are a fixed-income ETF platform and a passive platform for precious metals later in the year. HSBC Gam will also create 15 new roles to support its new business initiatives.
Alternative Investments: The Ford Mustang Steve McQueen Drove in Bullitt Could Fetch A Record Price
Remember grim-faced, dogged Steve McQueen chasing a couple of goons up and down the streets of San Francisco in that iconic car chase in Bullitt?
The car McQueen drove in that chase, a green 1968 Ford Mustang, is up for auction at Mecum and may command a record price of as much as $4 million for Sean Kiernan, its owner.
Green Street Advisors: Data Center REITs Will See More Demand
Green Street Advisors analyst David Guarino says that data consumption trends will accelerate in the future. This provides support to his thesis that data center demand will increase. It also signals that investors will continue to pour capital into associated real estate assets like data center REITs.
Alternative Investments: More Finger-pointing in NMC Health’s Spat With Muddy Waters
In mid-December, famed activist and short-seller fund Muddy Waters threw the book at Abu-Dhabi based NMC Healthcare. NMC is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Its shares plunged from 2585 pence on December 16 to 1300.50 pence on December 20, a fall of about 50%. Carson Block’s Muddy Waters said it had “serious doubts” on NMC Health’s financial statements. Further, it alleged the healthcare company had manipulated these documents.
Alternative Investments: Willow Oak and Focused Compounding Launch New Private Investment Fund
Willow Oak and Focused Compounding will launch a new private investment partnership. They have called it the Focused Compounding Fund. The fund will invest in what Portfolio Managers Geoff Gannon and Andrew Kuhn call the 1% of stocks everyone else overlooks. The PMs are seeking what they call wonderful businesses that trade at reasonable valuation multiples.
Standard Chartered Appoints Rene W. Keller As CIO (And Other People on the Move)
Standard Chartered announced Rene W. Keller will become CIO, Corporate, Commercial & Institutional Banking (CCIB). Based in Singapore, he will report to Dr. Michael Gorriz, Group CIO. Keller will be responsible for the business’ technology strategy, architecture and delivery value chain that will drive strategic business outcomes.
Alternative Investments: Stellar Returns from Healthcare and Biotech IPOs in 2019
Stellar Returns came from Healthcare and Biopharma IPOs in 2019. Hedge funds that invested in these companies made solid gains.
Alternative Investments: Breaking Down the BlackRock 2020 Forecast
Alternative investment manager Blackrock (BLK) has issued the Blackrock 2020 forecast. The firm believes that growth will pick up next year with little risk of inflation. They also warn that the years of friendly central bank policies could be behind us and that inflation risks are underpriced.
Alternative Investments: Hindsight in 2020 – Killer Trades That Might Have Been
The trades we would have taken in the decade gone by – if only we’d known
Secure in our present-day knowledge and risk-free comfort, let’s indulge in some armchair trading through the 2010s.
Alternative Investments: IRS Releases Regulations for Opportunity Zones
IRS Releases Regulations for Opportunity Zones. The U.S. Department of Treasury released the final Opportunity Zone Treasury Regulations last week. According to Russell J. Stein at Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP, the much-anticipated regulations are extensive and provide clarity into the working of the Opportunity Zone tax rules.
Alternative Investments: Decline in IPOs Worldwide as Investors Prefer Private Markets
There is a striking decline in the number and value of Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) to raise capital across the globe. Macro-economic and political factors such as trade wars, Brexit, and growth fears played a role in this trend, says the FT.
But there is also concern that increasingly, both issuers and investors may be gravitating to private markets.
Venture Capital: Who Will Dare to IPO After 2019’s List of Stumbles
2020 IPOs will generate a lot of buzz in the coming months. With the S&P 500 ripping to record highs after a more than 26% return, how will venture-backed firms take to the market?
Baidu Tops Google and Microsoft in Artificial Intelligence Competition
Baidu Artificial Intelligence has overtaken two of the world’s leaders in the industry. The Chinese tech giant topped Microsoft and Google in a recent artificial intelligence competition.