Research and publications

Overlay Hedging in a Fund of Funds

Hedge funds are often referred to as absolute return strategies, yet investors are aware that most hedge funds do in fact take on a variety of systematic and quasi-systematic exposures. If a manager of a fund of hedge funds (FoF) finds that the exposure of the FoF to a certain systematic exposure or the risk level broadly has become excessive, then the FoF manager may want to hedge. The purpose of this article is to outline the major issues involved with overlay hedging in a fund of funds portfolio and to provide relevant solutions to these issues. These include the determination of whether to hedge, exposure estimation, hedging single exposures with futures, options, and other instruments, and hedging exposures broadly using a multi-factor approach.

Author(s):

David E. Kuenzi, Remy Chaudhuri, Zhihui Dong

Summary:

Hedge funds are often referred to as absolute return strategies, yet investors are aware that most hedge funds do in fact take on a variety of systematic and quasi-systematic exposures. If a manager of a fund of hedge funds (FoF) finds that the exposure of the FoF to a certain systematic exposure or the risk level broadly has become excessive, then the FoF manager may want to hedge. The purpose of this article is to outline the major issues involved with overlay hedging in a fund of funds portfolio and to provide relevant solutions to these issues. These include the determination of whether to hedge, exposure estimation, hedging single exposures with futures, options, and other instruments, and hedging exposures broadly using a multi-factor approach.

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Type :	Working paper
Date :	09/01/2008
Keywords :	Alternative Investments

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