Private equity managers arguably bit off more than they could chew in the pre-crisis, credit-crunch world. Now, several years on, PE-funded companies have managed to survive, mutate and thrive, according to a new report.

Much to the chagrin of activist hedge fund managers, poison pills are making a comeback - in new and more lethal forms. For managers in particular, reading the label and following the directions is more important than ever.

Predictable patterns are easy game for hedge funds.

It's getting easier to lead an institutional manager to illiquid strategies - not water - according to a recent survey by eVestment Alliance and Casey Quirk. But after what happened in 2008, why would they drink?

Fiduciaries think of a client's needs before their own - sacrificing the latter if required. But does the requirement for a hedge fund manager to put their client's interests before their own help or hinder the search for alpha? It depends on who you ask.

A new academic paper suggests managers open and close their funds to new investments to keep performance up - and to keep fees flowing in. We wonder whether hedge fund champion John Paulson would agree.

A funny thing happened on the way to blaming hedge funds for the global financial crisis, formulating a new set of rules to monitor them, politically compromising and scaling back on those rules and then slamming them through.

Despite talk of a "new normal", a closely-followed annual review of US endowment investing reveals that we're finally moving back to the "old" normal.

Hedge fund matchmakers are facing new rules when it comes to matching their clients with public pension funds. The question is whether it's a growing trend or will the matchmakers will soon start looking for different matches.

Deutsche Bank's annual alternative investment survey suggests the so-called "risk appetite" is back among hedge fund investors. Let's hope recent calamities around the globe haven't made investors lose their appetites altogether.

A recent report by Moody's indicates the hedge funds are doing better collectively, attracting more institutional assets and looking at a more positive outlook overall. It's all great, except perhaps for the source of the information...

Blaming swooning financial markets and the recession for funding shortfalls has become a national pastime among U.S. pension funds. A new report suggests that they need to stop pointing fingers and start taking responsibility for their actions.

There are some pensions who're sure, all that glitters is gold. And they're trying to make hay in twenty-eleven...

Here's a list of the top 20 AllAboutAlpha.com posts over the past 6 months that summarized academic and practitioner research papers. As you'll quickly see, it's like drinking from an intellectual fire hose...

In the never-ending search for the source of hedge fund alpha, some have looked to factor timing. But a new study suggests that this, like many other possible explanations, falls short of explaining the hedge fund secret sauce.

Freedom 66 for pensioners could easily mean Freedom 45 or even Freedom 35 for hedge fund managers, thanks to their recent contributions towards helping to partially offset liability issues, according to a report by TheCityUK.

It's hard to believe, but even a four trillion dollar a day market can get a little too cozy every once in a while.

The mid-2000s were quite the party for the private equity crowd. But the morning after, they woke up to too much debt on too few revenues, highballs combined with high-balled growth. So who gets to clean up the mess?

Two and a half years have past since the global credit meltdown and there's still concern about the suspected systemic risk of hedge funds. The investigation's going in the right direction, but the real clues are in the footprints, according to the U.K. Financial Services Authority's latest report.

For some investors, the hedge fund world is assumed to be riddled with potential land mines and threats of heavy gunfire. Which is why finding managers who stick to the "Green Zone" is good practice, according to a new white paper.

Infrastructure investments remain a hot trend among institutional investors, though a new report suggests they are a lot more complicated - and risky - than as commonly perceived.

Is it location, location, location? Or valuation, valuation, valuation? Or is it timing, timing, timing? Perhaps all three describe both public and private real estate investing. But figuring out valuation is the tricky part.

Angel investing is an acquired taste that isn't generally described as an "alternative investment." But as a recent survey of both angels and VC funds illustrates, angel investing is really no different than an institutional investor making "direct" private equity investments.

And the institutions demanded higher transparency, lower fees and greater risk management. And the hedge funds listened - at least according to Preqin's latest survey of hedge fund industry trends.

"Bernie" is back in the headlines, squawking from the jailhouse about how the banks and others should have seen his scheme for what it was - and actually may have. The broader question is whether suspicions about Madoff's bogus strategy would have made a difference.

Investing in different kinds of collectibles as an alternative way to generate alpha has been tried time and again. Few, however, have made it the intricate topic of a detailed dissertation, and fewer still have dedicated research to showing the positive returns collectibles can generate in a broader investment portfolio.

Real estate in various forms continues to gain favor among institutional investors. For hedge funds, the problem is the shadow being cast.

Trends come and go. Here's one that came, went and is now on its way back according to a survey by consultancy bfinance.

A recent academic paper takes issue with the common view of what drawdowns mean for hedge fund performance.

Sovereign Wealth Funds are some of the biggest behemoths around. So why would they ever think they could move around undetected?

A recent survey of hedge fund managers and investors indicates a surge of optimism for 2011. The question is whether they need to look both ways before crossing the seemingly one-way street to a positive year.

It's that time of year when soothsayers say their sooths about the upcoming year. So what are they saying about alternative investments in 2011?

Hedge funds are apparently just as entitled to rights of passage as anyone else, according to a recent survey of institutional investors, who collectively are poised to give them a second chance.

Success breeds success – and expectations of continued success. Except in private equity, where success bodes reversion to the mean, a recent study on performance persistence argues.

Without liquid markets, private equity values are nearly always marked to model. But that may be changing...

Hedge funds are getting branded as more conservative than they used to be, thanks to the '08 meltdown, but at least one is willing "2 t8k a gambl" on a new kind of strategy.

Gone are the days when figuring the crowd affected the pricing and spreads along various parts of the credit market structure. According to a recent report by Standard & Poor's, hedge fund traders and other market participants make measuring credit risk a lot more difficult than it used to be.

The European Central Bank's latest financial stability review barely mentions hedge funds at all. Is no news good news?

Not to be confused with crashing and burning or with high-intensity workouts, impact investing promises to be the next step forward in earning a return and being socially and politically responsible. What remains to be seen is how many institutions will adapt to it.

The Alternative Investment Fund Management Directive has cast hedge fund managers as pariahs to be closely monitored, but research and history suggest the industry will adapt and survive.

2010, we hardly knew ya! Check out the 10 most-read AllAboutAlpha.com posts from the year of the tiger.

Check out what the social media zeitgeist tweeted about in 2010.

Looking for a way to remember the time before the snow? Check out these choice posts from the fall.

Hedge funds have reclaimed their status as belles of the ball in investors' eyes, according to recent figures from Hedge Fund Research. The question is how long they'll continue to remain in favor.

Today, investors once again consider allocating seed capital to emerging managers in the hopes they'll discover the "next big thing." The terms and conditions that come with writing the check, however, have changed.

Private equity investors have been a patient lot, and now that patience may finally begin to pay off.

For institutions, it's easier than it used to be to put money to work in "green" investments. The question is whether they can still earn a decent return doing it.

2011 is shaping up to be a good year for asset managers, hedge funds in particular, so long as they tow the party line and offer what investors now demand: transparency, and loads of it.

To thrive in a newly open and transparent world, hedge fund managers need to lose their inhibitions in front of investors, who are demanding more transparency and accountability than ever, according to a recent report.

Death: Uncorrelated with the equity beta - as long as market volatility doesn't give us all heart attacks.