Hedge Funds - Fundamentals

The objective of this module is to provide the participantwith an introductory overview of hedge funds, their mainstrategies and risk and performance measures.

• Definitions and basic concepts
• History and definitions: origin, concept, structure &legal framework
• An asset class in its own right
• Impact of hedge funds on the financial markets
• Advantages and disadvantages
• Main hedge funds strategies
• Convertible arbitrage, Merger Arbitrage, Event driven, Distressed securities, Equity market neutral, Equity long short, Fixed-income arbitrage, Global macro, Managed futures
• Risk and performance measures for hedge funds
• Basic concepts: risk, return, volatility and Net Asset Value
• Risk: 5 technical risk ratios
• …and their shortcomings
• Value at risk
• Benchmarking hedge funds
• Case studies