There was more evidence last week that alpha-centric investing is rebranding itself.  Clearly alarmed about the negative imagery now associated with the term “hedge fund”, several alternative asset managers have adopted the moniker “absolute return” or have simply dropped any reference to alternative investments from their name.

One good example is the rebranding last week of Chicago’s Harris Alternatives LLC.  The firm adopted the name of its flagship fund, calling itself Aurora Investment Management since “Chicago already has too many Harrises“.

But notice another subtle change.  The firm also dropped the “Alternatives” bit in favor of the more traditional “Investment Management”.  In reference to investors’ habit of referring to Harris as “Aurora” all along, Pensions & Investments saw this as a case of “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” But that observation also clearly applies to the firm’s decision to position itself as a provider of traditional investments – not just alternatives. (In fairness, Aurora’s home page makes it clear that the firm is still solidly in the alternative asset management business.)

Aurora isn’t alone.  Bridgewater Associates was recently crowned by Fortune Magazine as “The World’s Biggest Hedge Fund Manager”.  Yet despite this achievement, Fortune reports that Bridgewater “doesn’t use a lot of borrowed money” and that Dalio “hates being called a hedge fund manager.” (Though oddly, Fortune also says Bridgewater’s leverage ratio is 4:1, higher than the hedge fund industry average.)

Meanwhile, traditional investment managers continue to launch sorties into alternative territory.  More and more traditional UK asset managers are apparently adopting the “absolute return” moniker in effort to expand their product offerings.  As P&I also points out in this article: More…