Activist Investing

Activist investing is an investment approach whereby an investor seeks to influence the strategy of a company. Strategy may be very broadly defined to include acquisitions, divestitures, capital structure, dividend policy and board composition, inter alia.

We see two broad aspects of this strategy that may exist separately or together. First, activist investing may seek to remedy conflicts of interest in corporate governance. Secondly, it may be seen as a derivative strategy of value investing that attempts not only to identify undervalued companies, but also to engage those companies to pursue actions that will realize shareholder value.

We believe activist strategies should be considered as a part of investors’ equity portfolios.

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GIC, Temasek eye trillions of growth in climate adaptation market

GIC, Temasek eye trillions of growth in climate adaptation market

Singapore’s two largest asset owners, GIC and Temasek, see attractive opportunities in climate adaptation solutions – a relatively underfunded area compared to decarbonisation. The former has already made selective adaptation investments and said the opportunity set across public and private debt and equity could increase to $9 trillion by 2050.

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Momentum in Japan works well: Asness

By studying value and momentum in Japan as a system, because they are strongly negatively correlated, this paper by AQR’s Cliff Asness argues that despite popular belief, momentum “works quite well” in Japan.mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

Making sense of China’s excessive foreign reserves

This analysis suggests that without a well-developed domestic financial market, the value of the Chinese currency (renminbi) may significantly depreciate, instead of appreciate, once the Chinese government abandons the linked exchange rate and the massive amount of precautionary savings of Chinese households are unleashed toward international financial markets to search for better returns.mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content

The economics of hedge funds

This collaborative research examines the relationship between hedge fund managers’ fee structures and the amount of risk taken and among other things finds a “high-powered incentive fee” encourages excessive risk-taking, while management fees have the opposite effect.mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

Yale warns on ‘nanny’ reforms

Subjecting money market funds to a bank-like regulatory structure would disrupt the short-term money market and increase systematic risk according to this Yale Law School paper. While risk-limiting reforms are important to ensure the continued safety and security of MMFs, this paper argues major revisions such as the floating NAV requirement or bank-like regulation would

Some like it hot

Empirical literature and MSCI analysis show that high implementation costs indicate there is little evidence the average managers in either emerging market or small caps have produced either higher or more persistent risk-adjusted returns relative to their developed market and mid-cap peers. mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

Inflation-linked bonds and their relative value as an inflation hedge

Treasury inflation-protected securities (TIPS) have a relatively unique profile within fixed income portfolios, which has important implications for investors’ setting of objectives and portfolio construction. This Towers Watson article explores the different motivations for using TIPS and other inflation hedges.mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

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