E-Book Overview
The main theme of this dense book is the future of the asset management industry. Alexander M. Ineichen claims that the investment business has undergone a paradigm shift, away from buy-and-hold and toward absolute-return investing. He explores the origins and implications of this shift in considerable detail and enjoyable prose. But, beware, this is not a book for beginners or generalists. Even close students of finance may find it difficult to follow the author's argument through his many detours and tangents (interesting as they are). Ineichen is an ardent fan of high-risk, high-leverage hedge fund investing, so his book will be controversial in the post-subprime-crisis atmosphere, where that kind of investing has fallen from grace. Ineichen quotes John Maynard Keynes as saying, "When circumstances change, I change my view. What do you do?" Published in 2007, the book references the equity market bubble of 1995 to 2000 as the most recent instance of large-scale market inefficiency, but getAbstract wonders whether the author would change his view after the much more consequential financial collapse of 2008.
E-Book Content
Asymmetric Returns The Future of Active Asset Management ALEXANDER M. INEICHEN John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Additional Praise for Asymmetric Returns ‘‘The book is comprehensive and provides a very good overview on issues that many institutional investors are currently facing. The examples used throughout the book are as helpful as they are entertaining.’’ —Kurt Silberstein, Portfolio Manager, Absolute Return Strategies, California Public Employees’ Retirement System ‘‘In Asymmetric Returns, Ineichen advances the practice of active management by distilling the essential elements of the craft from the pedestrian pursuit of index-tracking strategies. Broadly expanding on his seminal work, In Search of Alpha, this treatise is resplendent with assessable facts and reasoning that will recalibrate the focus and attention of thoughtful investors.’’ —Bryan White, Chief Investment Officer, Quellos Group, LLC ‘‘Once again, Alexander Ineichen is at the forefront of observations about the industry. . . . a must read for investors and asset managers alike!’’ —Tanya Styblo Beder, CEO, Tribeca Global Management LLC Founded in 1807, John Wiley & Sons is the oldest independent publishing company in the United States. With offices in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia, Wiley is globally committed to developing and marketing print and electronic products and services for our customers’ professional and personal knowledge and understanding. The Wiley Finance series contains books written specifically for finance and investment professionals as well as sophisticated individual investors and their financial advisors. Book topics range from portfolio management to e-commerce, risk management, financial engineering, valuation and financial instrument analysis, as well as much more. For a list of available titles, please visit our Web site at www.Wiley Finance.com. Asymmetric Returns The Future of Active Asset Management ALEXANDER M. INEICHEN John Wiley & Sons, Inc. c 2007 by Alexander Ineichen. All rights reserved. Copyright Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. Published simultaneously in Canada. c 2003, ‘‘European Rainmakers’’ c 2004, and The documents ‘‘Fireflies before the Storm’’ c 2005 are c UBS AG, and extracts from these documents are ‘‘The Critique of Pure Alpha’’ used with the permission of UBS AG. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permissi