Alternatives and Liquidity: Will Spending and Capital Calls Eat Your “Modern” Portfolio?

An award for the academic paper with the most relevance to institutional investors, as judged by a panel including the chief investment officers of three large European pension funds, has been awarded to Laurence B Siegel, for his paper “Alternatives and Liquidity: Will Spending and Capital Calls Eat Your ‘Modern’ Portfolio?” published in the Journal of Portfolio Management.

Siegel, who has authored more than 70 articles and one book, Benchmarks and Investment Management, was a previous member of the editorial board of the Journal of Portfolio Management and the Journal of Investing.

The inaugural EDHEC Robeco Journal of Portfolio Management Award is awarded to the author of the academic paper
published in the Journal of Portfolio Management in the previous calendar year which, in the opinion of the jury, has had the most relevance for institutional investors.

Siegel’s paper was chosen following a two-stage selection process, firstly involving a panel of academic experts who
drew up a shortlist of potential winning papers, and then a final vote from a jury made up of three chief investment officers from leading European pension funds.

The pension fund representatives on the selection committee were: Johan van der Ende, chief investment officer, PGGM, Frederic Methlow, chief investment officer, AVS-AHV Compensation Fund, and Tom Steenkamp, chief investment officer for asset allocation and research, APG.

Siegel, who is renowned as a “bull”, was appointed as research director of the Research Foundation at the CFA Institute in 2005, he has also served as the director of research in the investment division of the Ford Foundation, and was a former managing director of consulting firm Ibbotson Associates.

Sponsored Content

Part of his (voluntary) role at the Research Foundation was to emphasise research of practical value to investment
professionals, while exploring new and challenging topics that provided a unique perspective.

At the time of his appointment to the CFA’s Research Foundation he said: “Some thoughtful investors have expressed concern that the “glory days” of discovery in finance are in the past, beginning in the 1950s with Harry Markowitz’s work and ending in the 1970s with the Black-Scholes option pricing formula.

“While these founding events are monumentally important, discovery has continued, practical financial innovation
has greatly accelerated, and the direct impact of finance on people’s lives has dramatically increased. The monograph series will both reflect these innovations and try to advance them further.”

He received both his BA and his MBA from the University of Chicago.

His winning paper can be found at http://www.cfapubs.org/doi/abs/10.2469/dig.v39.n2.14

Leave a Comment

Sort content by

Future Fund takes big step for corporate governance

The A$58 billion ($46 billion) Australian Future Fund has made a number of corporate governance-related decisions, including bringing its proxy voting for domestic shares in-house and the creation of an environmental, social and governance risk management function. mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

Carbon risks reduced by good stock selection

Asset managers can dramatically reduce the carbon footprints of their funds through stock selection without the need to alter sector weightings or their overall investment strategy, according to a report by Mercer and Trucost for the WWF, that also found asset owners could encourage the active management of carbon risk in portfolios. mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content

Institutional influence shaping hedge fund investments

Janine Baldridge, Russell Investments’ global head of consulting and advisory services, talks to Kristen Paech about the new terms pension funds are demanding from their hedge fund managers – including lower fees and more control – and how managers are responding. mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

$38b UN fund to review ALM

The investments committee and committee of actuaries of the $38 billion UN Joint Staff Pension Board will recommend the introduction of new asset classes, including emerging markets equity and debt, real return assets and private equity in a presentation to the board in July. mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

CIC to invest 6% in hedge funds by 2010

The $200 billion China Investment Corporation (CIC) will have between $4 and $6 billion invested in hedge funds by the end of this year, and will develop in-house expertise including long/short under Felix Chee, special adviser to the CIO, as part of a wider recruitment drive which includes more than 30 new positions. mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored

Timor’s SWF awards first external mandate, begins global equities search

The $4.7 billion Petroleum Fund of Timor-Leste has diversified its portfolio away from US Treasuries by appointing, for the first time, an external manager to invest $1 billion in high-grade, diversified fixed income, while undertaking a search for global equity managers. mrec4inarticleinline Sponsored Content scnative1 scnative2 scnative3

Previous