Bloomberg- Intech Investment Consultants, Ipac and Van Eyk, three of Australia’s biggest asset advisers, are recommending clients invest in “alternative” assets such as hedge funds to take advantage of volatile markets.
Intech, Ipac and Van Eyk, which together advise on about A$90 billion ($84 billion) of Australian assets, increased their weightings in hedge funds to as much as 20 percent this year from as little as zero in 2007, executives said in separate interviews yesterday.
The end of a five-year bull market in equities puts hedge funds in a better position to generate returns through strategies such as selling stocks short, the three firms say. Australia’s benchmark index is on track for its worst quarterly performance since at least 1992, having dropped 15 percent this year.
