The Cayman Alternative Investment Summit (CAIS) has become an authoritative platform for fresh thinking on alternative investing and 2016 is set to raise the bar another notch higher.
Taking place at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel between 4 and 5 February 2016, Grand Cayman, the theme of CAIS 2016 is “Alternative Investments: Supercharged”.
Looking at some of the issues the funds industry has faced over the last couple of years, from an economic perspective there’s been significant quantitative easing, high asset prices, issues around commodities, and more recently a big question mark over China’s economy.
In the opinion of Anthony Cowell, Partner and Head of Alternative Investments at KPMG (Cayman Islands), the industry is at an inflection point, and that the next stage is how to ‘supercharge’ it.
“This is where we came up with the name of this year’s program agenda. In other words, what does the industry now need to do?
“Pension funds and other institutional investors are still allocating more to the industry than ever before despite some of the rhetoric in the media. The next step is about positioning the industry, understanding what it can do better – and that’s what CAIS 2016 will focus on,” says Cowell.
As such, CAIS 2016 will look at key areas driving profit (innovation, talent) and how to customize products to clients. Adds Cowell: “We’ve had a 20-year period during which managers have led the discussion. Now, the industry is being turned on its head. Institutional investors are leading the charge. Issues around globalization, regulation, state-of-the-art business models: these are some of the key topics for CAIS 2016.”
Since its inception in 2012, CAIS has become a key fixture on the event calendar for global alternative fund managers and asset owners and is now widely regarded as the global voice of the alternative industry.
Bringing together the sharpest minds with a host of guest and industry speakers from different segments of the global alternatives industry, CAIS provides a platform to explore the challenges and opportunities facing the industry and design responses that will take it to its next level of success.
Industry speakers, to name but a few, include: Andrew Bastow, Vice President and Head of European Restructuring and Regulatory Affairs, AQR Capital Management; Tom Brown, Global Head of Investment Management, KPMG; Mark Okada, co-founder and CIO of Highland Capital Management, LP; Mark L. Hart III, Chairman and CIO, Corriente Advisors, LLC and Spiros Maliagros, President, TIG Advisors, LLC.
Cowell says that we he believes will set CAIS 2016 apart from other industry conferences this year will be the wide selection of C-level executives in attendance: those who influence the industry and can offer truly fresh insights.
“We hope to have a wide cross section of institutional investors, alternative investment managers across the spectrum, prime brokerage firms and regulators.”
From a manager perspective, CAIS 2016 is an opportunity to hear fresh insights from some of the world’s biggest investors; not just from the pension fund world but also family offices, prominent HNW individuals.
From an investor perspective, Cowell says it is a chance to hear what managers intend to do differently. What changes are they thinking of making to their business models? How are they going to customize solutions to attract new capital? How are they going to listen to investors, and, crucially, how are they going to make money?
The program agenda for Day 1 will focus on cultivating new client segments and geographies whilst the program agenda for Day 2 will focus on creating new growth engines.
The conference will feature discussions on traditional alternative investments – real estate, infrastructure – which have done very well over the last 12 months, as well as touch upon some of the concerns in the private equity space with respect to the SEC’s investigation around valuation and expenses in PE houses.
CAIS 2016 will also look at alternative ways in which investments can be managed – i.e. going to alternative credit lenders instead of prime brokers – and discuss securitization.
“What we are increasing seeing is lending companies securitizing their products, which are then sold to the institutional marketplace. That is an innovative financial product that we are starting to see some traction in. We’ve got some fantastic speakers confirmed including Ron Suber, President of Prosper, (America’s first direct lending platform), and Fiona Grandi, KPMG’s global head of advisory on fintech,” comments Cowell.
Those wishing to attend CAIS 2016 are asked to click on the following link: http://www.caymansummit.com/register/
More information can also be found by clicking on the following social media links:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/cayman-alternative-investment-summit-cais-2016
https://twitter.com/CaymanSummit
