CAIA Level II: Advanced Core Topics in Alternative Investments, 2nd Edition

1.1 OUTLINE OF THIS BOOK

The book is divided into five parts. The first part discusses endowments, foundations, and pension plans as examples of institutional investors. The final four parts each discuss a sector of alternative investment strategies: private equity, real assets, commodities, and hedge funds and managed futures.

Part One of the book discusses asset allocation and portfolio management from the point of view of institutional investors. Completely new to the second edition are Chapters 2, 3, and 4, which outline the investment challenges and practices of endowments, foundations, and pension plans, which have become some of the world's largest investors in alternative assets. These chapters explore the motivation for those investors to grow their asset allocation to alternative investments. They face special risks and considerations when investing in alternative assets and integrating those assets into their business operations. These include spending rates, inflation, liquidity, rebalancing, tail risk, funding status, and surplus risk. The endowment model as represented by the investment strategy of Yale University's endowment is examined in Chapter 2, while liability-driven investing is a highlight of Chapter 4.

Part Two, which comprises Chapters 5 to 14, discusses the private equity market. Building on the material from CAIA Level I: An Introduction to Core Topics in Alternative Investments, it covers advanced topics in private equity investments and describes various ...