InvestorDaily- While Australian superannuation funds and institutional investors have discovered hedge funds, their participation is not to the extent of most of their developed market peers.
But the current market downturn may change that behaviour, because the juicy returns they had become used to from the traditional asset classes have disappeared for the moment.
"The industry super funds were early adopters of hedge funds, but for most other dealer groups and institutions, they didn’t have the imperative in 2003-2007 to look fully into alternative assets, because traditional ones were motoring along so well," Lonsec head of investment consulting Amanda Gillespie says.
"When you’ve got investors and advisers looking at the phenomenal returns we’ve seen in traditional markets – up until the last 12 months – it’s been a really hard sell to talk them into making really big allocations to alternatives in that environment. But I think that more of them are ready to look at alternative investment categories now."