New partnership between EDHEC-Risk and Swiss Life AM France

Written on 01 Oct 2018.


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Swiss Life Asset Managers France and EDHEC-Risk have announced the creation of a three-year research chair at EDHEC-Risk Institute entitled “Real Estate in Modern Investment Solutions.”

Led by Professor Lionel Martellini, Director of EDHEC-Risk Institute, and Professor Nikos Tessaromatis, Professor of Finance at EDHEC Business School, the research chair team will analyse the role of real estate in investment solutions. The goal is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the role of listed and unlisted real estate investments in institutional portfolios, with a particular emphasis on how dedicated forms of real estate investments can prove to be key ingredients within the performance and hedging components of welfare-improving forms of investment solutions.

The chair will particularly focus its research by:

  • Examining how dedicated forms of real estate investments can be used as part of the goal-hedging portfolios within improved retirement solutions, based on their ability to generate inflation-linked replacement income cash flows;
  • Assessing the theoretical, empirical and practical challenges related to factor investing in real estate markets, with the ambition to facilitate the emergence of more efficient approaches to real estate risk premia harvesting.

Frédéric Bôl, Chief Executive Officer, Swiss Life Asset Managers France, said, “Such a chair with EDHEC-Risk shows our strong commitment, as Swiss Life Asset Managers France, to robust research-driven products for the benefit of our clients. I strongly believe that real estate is a key asset for goal-based investment solutions, notably for pension schemes. EDHEC-Risk is at the forefront of advanced investment solutions including alternative assets for the AM industry and as such, a bespoke partner for Swiss Life Asset Managers France to address these issues.”

Professor Lionel Martellini, Director of EDHEC-Risk Institute, said, “With the support of Swiss Life Asset Managers France, we very much look forward to advancing research on how listed and unlisted real estate can be efficiently used by asset owners in the context of welfare-improving forms of retirement solutions. The main objective of the research chair is to contribute to casting real estate investing within the framework of modern portfolio theory, with a particular focus on the identification of the relevant risk factors that are associated with the performance and hedging benefits of real estate investment vehicles.”

Further details can be found in the press release.