Relatively Asymmetrical (an interview with Alexander Ineichen)
Sep 25th, 2006 | Filed under: Hedge Fund Industry Trends, Performance, Analytics & MetricsBy: Christina Grotheer, CFA Magazine
Published: September/October, 2006
“I think the last five years have resulted in an industry-wide bifurcation of alpha and beta.”
- Alexander Ineichen, Senior Investmet Officer, UBS Global Asset Management
Few would dispute that Alexander Ineichen is a titan of the hedge fund industry and a prophet of alpha-centric investing. He was the author of UBS’s most re-printed research reports ever: “In Search of Alpha”, and “The Search for Alpha Continues”. In fact, Alpha Male has a special shrine in his home dedicated to this original thinker.
In this article, he turns his attention toward “asymmetrical return profiles”, arguing that asymmetry, not absolute returns per se, is the hallmark of the new investing paradigm.
Unfortunately, this article over-simplifies his position and draws on various stereo-types. Notably, the author says that portable alpha and absolute return investors are simply ”caught up in the latest investment craze”, but then positions Ineichen’s ideas as a subset of absolute return investing itself. Reminds Alpha Male of his brother’s recent shenanigans in Mongolia (read post).
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[…] All About Alpha (thankfully) beat us to this interesting interview with Alexander Ineichen on “asymmetrical return profiles.” […]
[…] Those of you in the hedge fund industry will recognize the name Alexander Ineichen. Ineichen has written several of the studies that form the foundation of today’s alpha-centric investing paradigm. Last month his new book, Asymmetrical Returns hit book stores. We mentioned it on this blog and promptly reserved the first available copy to be delivered across the world’s longest (formerly) undefended border to Canada. […]