The Alpha Masters: Unlocking the Genius of the World's Top Hedge Funds

The Alpha Masters: Unlocking the Genius of the World's Top Hedge Funds

by Maneet Ahuja, Myron Scholes, Mohamed El-Erian
Released May 2012
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9781118167571

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Book description

The ultimate behind-the-curtain look at the hedge fund industry, unlocking the most valuable stories, secrets, and lessons directly from those who have played the game best.

Written by Maneet Ahuja, the hedge fund industry insider, The Alpha Masters brings the secretive world of hedge funds into the light of day for the first time. As the authority that the biggest names in the business, including John Paulson, David Tepper, and Bill Ackman, go to before breaking major news, Ahuja has access to the innermost workings of the hedge fund industry. For the first time, in Alpha Masters, Ahuja provides both institutional and savvy private investors with tangible, analytical insight into the psychology of the trade, the strategies and investment criteria serious money managers use to determine and evaluate their positions, and special guidance on how the reader can replicate this success themselves.

There are few people with access to the inner chambers of the hedge fund industry, and as a result it remains practically uncharted financial territory. Alpha Masters changes all that, shedding light on star fund managers and how exactly they consistently outperform the market. The book:

  • Contains easy-to-follow chapters that are broken down by strategy--Long/Short, Event Arbitrage, Value, Macro, Distressed, Quantitative, Commodities, Activist, pure Short, Fund of Funds.

  • Includes insights from the biggest names in the trading game, including Ray Dalio, Marc Lasry, Jim Chanos, Sonia Gardner, Pierre Lagrange, and Tim Wong.

  • Features contributions from industry icon Mohamed El-Erian

Many of the subjects profiled in this groundbreaking new book have never spoken so candidly about their field, providing extremely provocative, newsworthy analysis of today's investing landscape.

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Contents
  3. Title
  4. Copyright
  5. Dedication
  6. Foreword: The Less Mysterious World of Hedge Funds
  7. Preface
  8. Disclaimer
  9. Chapter 1: The Global Macro Maven
    1. The Makings of a Maven
    2. Coming of Age through a Crisis
    3. Building Bridgewater
    4. Winning Over the World Bank
    5. Belly Up: Learning from the Bad
    6. Calculating Crises
    7. Foreseeing the Financial Crisis
    8. Extracting Alpha
    9. Bringing Home the Alpha
    10. Fund in Focus
    11. Procuring the Principles
    12. Watchful Eye on the World Today
    13. Going After What You Want
  10. Chapter 2: Man versus Machine
    1. Tim Wong: The Engineer
    2. Pierre Lagrange: The Money Maker
  11. Chapter 3: The Risk Arbitrageur
    1. The Making of a Risk Arbitrageur
    2. It’s Not All Numbers
    3. The Stuff of Legends
    4. Knowing What You Don’t Know
    5. “I’m Sort of an Independent Person”
    6. The Greatest Trade Ever
    7. Mispriced Risk: Dow/Rohm & Haas
    8. Jumping into the Deep End: Citigroup
    9. Good as Gold
    10. A Little Help from His Friends
    11. Fighting Back
  12. Chapter 4: Distressed Debt’s Value Seekers
    1. The Auto Bailout
    2. Brother-and-Sister Partnership
    3. Catching the Eye of Robert Bass
    4. Killer Combination
    5. Detecting Diamonds in the Rough
    6. Extracting the Value
  13. Chapter 5: The Fearless First Mover
    1. Gearing Up at Goldman
    2. Pulling in the Profits
    3. “A” for Appaloosa
    4. The Early Days
    5. No “A’s” in High School
    6. Learning and Earning
    7. Fierce and Fearless
    8. Titanic Track Record
    9. International Intrigue
    10. Russian Roulette
    11. Bullish on Bankruptcies
    12. Delphi Dilemma
    13. WaMu Winner
    14. The Force Behind Financials
    15. The ABC’s: AIG, BAC, and C
    16. Sizing Up the Sweet Spot
  14. Chapter 6: The Activist Answer
    1. Bright Beginnings
    2. Getting Gotham Going
    3. The School of Rock
    4. Making a Name for Himself
    5. Return on Invested Brain Damage
    6. Buying the Farm
    7. Rising from the Ashes
    8. Fast Food, Building Record Results
    9. Making Cents at McDonald’s
    10. Borders and Target: A Couple of Clunkers
    11. Zeroing in on Target
    12. MBIA
    13. A Dud
    14. The Greatest Trade
    15. A Penney for His Thoughts
    16. Canadian Pacific on the Rails
    17. What Makes an Activist
  15. Chapter 7: The Poison Pen
    1. The Young Whippersnapper Finds His Way
    2. Catching the Big Wave in the Storm
    3. Evolution and Revolution
    4. The Third Point Tao and Team Approach
  16. Chapter 8: The Cynical Sleuth
    1. Cause for Cynicism
    2. The Contrarian Investor
    3. The Secret Sauce of Short-Selling
    4. Defending an Investment Strategy
    5. China’s Coming Crisis
    6. Back to Business School Basics
  17. Chapter 9: The Derivatives Pioneer
    1. The Rise of a Trailblazer
    2. “Lehman Weekend” at the Fed
    3. The Technicalities of the Trade
  18. Afterword
  19. Appendix
  20. References
  21. Acknowledgments
  22. About the Author
  23. Index

Product information

  • Title: The Alpha Masters: Unlocking the Genius of the World's Top Hedge Funds
  • Author(s): Maneet Ahuja, Myron Scholes, Mohamed El-Erian
  • Release date: May 2012
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781118167571