Welcome to the first issue of AlphaQ for 2017 and what a start to the year we have seen, with macro events dominating and the markets apparently lapping it up.
Woozle may not be an academic term with which you are familiar, but watch this space, literally. Nearly a year ago, Mark Pacitti, and Charlie Ellis founded Woozle Research, a solution to the Woozle effect theory of evidence by citation, whereby a finding gets repeatedly quoted until taken as the truth.
Formed in February 2016, Bedford Row Capital Advisers, one of the leading non-bank arrangers of listed debt securities, started out with modest aims of achieving two or three listings in its first year, but ended up doing 11 and issuing GBP440 million in senior secured, asset backed bonds with yields of between 5 and 8.5 per cent.
Dr Daniel Koller (pictured), lead manager of BB Biotech, writes that Biotech was one of the most widely reported sectors in 2016. Not only did the US election bring turbulence to biotech stocks but 2016 also reminded us of the importance and impact of social media, he says.
John Melsom is CIO of the Omni Event Fund, an actively managed global event-driven strategy with a focus on equity and equity-related securities of companies undergoing significant corporate actions and other hard catalyst events.
Beverly Chandler interviews Guy Strapp (pictured), CEO of Eastspring Investments, the USD140 billion (as at 30 June 2016) Asian investment management arm of Prudential plc.
Jonathan P Brose (pictured), Brett R Cotler, and Craig T Hickernell of Seward & Kissel LLP write on the US's Section 871(m) rules which are being phased in at the moment and the likely impact for non-US investors.
James Williams writes that a new report published by TH Real Estate entitled THINK 2017: Five things you should know, highlights five areas of focus for future real estate investment: big picture trends, cities to watch, leading sub-sectors, technology trends and sustainability.
Gabriella Kindert (pictured), Head of Alternative Credit at NN Investment Partners writes on key trends to watch in alternative lending during 2017.
As alternative and traditional fund managers look to enhance their trading strategies and move away from crowded trades, James Williams discovers that Eagle Alpha is leveraging the explosion in `big data' to offer buy-side firms alternative data sets to harness alpha.
James Williams finds that, although cautious overall in its outlook for global real estate in 2017, Hamilton Lane, an alternative fund manager with USD40 billion in discretionary AUM, does see some strong fundamentals throughout a good portion of the market.
Yu-Ming Wang (pictured), Global Head of Investment and Chief Investment Officer, International, and Bertram Sarmago, Investment Director, Asian Fixed Income, at Nikko Asset Management have written a paper expounding their theory that Asia credit should stand alone from global emerging market (EM) debt.
Latin American real estate offers an abundance of attractive entry points and long-term growth opportunities, particularly in markets such as Brazil and Mexico, as their middle class demographics continue to rise, writes James Williams.
Michael Ferguson (pictured), director, US Energy Infrastructure, S&P Global Ratings, writes that despite fears that Donald Trump's ascent to The White House could be a major blow to renewable energy, the US is currently experiencing a financing renaissance in one particular source: hydropower.
James Williams writes that CEPRES has rolled out a new platform to give institutional investors a way to effectively benchmark private capital market investments.
Our regular contributor, Randeep Grewal, calls on Elvis to examine so-called lonesome stocks and industries.