Bruce-Lipnick's  Instablog

The cornerstone of our business is to align our expertise with the interests of investors. Through Hedgeharbor's strategic relationships and international resources, institutional and high net worth investors are able to gain access to a broad range of high quality investment offerings. Hedgeharbor is dedicated to introducing its global client base to investments that are carefully screened to meet the individual criteria of investors.

Hedgeharbor Inc. and Hedgeharbor UK Ltd. are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Asset Alliance Corporation, a multi-faceted investment management company which acquires equity and revenue sharing interests in a diversified group of alternative investment management firms. As one of the pioneers in strategic growth capital for emerging managers, Asset Alliance has achieved significant expertise and experience in joint venturing with hedge fund managers.

As a result of the financial market changes experienced in 2008, Asset Alliance is positioned to participate in the development and growth of hedge fund managers and the industry at large. Asset Alliance has achieved attractive returns on its investments in hedge fund managers which it has seeded or acquired since its inception. Asset Alliance is uniquely positioned to take advantage of the next generation of strategic growth opportunities of the alternative investment management business. As a result of wide spread interest and demand in Asset Alliance's business model, the company has developed a platform for institutional participation as the expansion of the hedge fund industry is expected to continue.

Hedgeharbor believes that the vast majority of the risk and return in a multiple-asset-class portfolio is attributable to asset allocation. The following represents a broad illustration of major investment asset classes. Hedgeharbor seeks to provide investment opportunities in multiple asset classes based upon availability and market conditions. We also aim to broaden the universe of offerings as opportunities present themselves. Hedgeharbor strives to focus on managers within each asset class that have demonstrated a performance edge when compared to their peer groups and performance profiles that are superior to indices in their respective asset classes.

Asset Alliance seeks to allocate to managers that have extensive investment experience, employ well-developed investment strategies, have in place strong risk management controls, strong internal operational controls, and significant personal investment in the funds that they manage. Our focus is on managers who are at an inflection point in their growth and who will thus provide the greatest upside potential.

The fund selection process starts by identifying the universe of emerging managers. Sourcing of potential managers can be made by all members of Asset Alliance through active contacts with prime brokers, referrals from other industry contacts and third party marketing companies, attendance at conferences and active market searches of attractive strategies.

Manager selection criteria

The criteria for investment in managers are set by an Investment Committee and a Structuring Committee comprised of senior members of the firm. These criteria are reviewed from time to time by both committees.
In general, successful investment candidates will have most, if not all, of the following characteristics:

1. Longer than one year track record
2. More than $25 million of AUM
3. Understandable and scalable hedge fund strategy
4. Attractive risk/return or substantially non-correlated return profile
5. Significant market interest in the strategy
6. Experienced management
7. Marketable team and process
8. Clear background checks
9. Fit with the Fund's existing managers
10. Manager's full cooperation to market the fund to potential investors

Our research team recognizes the importance of both quantitative and qualitative factors in the investment decision process. We will utilize a range of quantitative analytical methods and consider a number of qualitative factors. Examples of these include:

Quantitative Factors

- Annualized return since inception;
- Annualized volatility since inception;
- Sharpe ratio since inception;
- History of annualized return since inception;
- History of annualized volatility since inception;
- History of Sharpe Ratio since inception
- Maximum drawdown

Qualitative Factors

- Pedigree of the investment manager;
- Soundness of investment process;
- Strength of the Investment Team;
- Manager transparency;
- Fund terms;
- Operational best practices;
- Personal investment in the fund

Through this process, Asset Alliance will seek to invest in or affiliate with managers who have the greatest potential to produce returns for our investors in a broad range of market environments.

The cornerstone of our business is to align our expertise with the interests of investors. Through Hedgeharbor's strategic relationships and international resources, institutional and high net worth investors are able to gain access to a broad range of high quality investment offerings. Hedgeharbor is dedicated to introducing its global client base to investments that are carefully screened to meet the individual criteria of investors.

Hedgeharbor Inc. and Hedgeharbor UK Ltd. are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Asset Alliance Corporation, a multi-faceted investment management company which acquires equity and revenue sharing interests in a diversified group of alternative investment management firms. As one of the pioneers in strategic growth capital for emerging managers, Asset Alliance has achieved significant expertise and experience in joint venturing with hedge fund managers.

As a result of the financial market changes experienced in 2008, Asset Alliance is positioned to participate in the development and growth of hedge fund managers and the industry at large. Asset Alliance has achieved attractive returns on its investments in hedge fund managers which it has seeded or acquired since its inception. Asset Alliance is uniquely positioned to take advantage of the next generation of strategic growth opportunities of the alternative investment management business. As a result of wide spread interest and demand in Asset Alliance's business model, the company has developed a platform for institutional participation as the expansion of the hedge fund industry is expected to continue.

Hedgeharbor believes that the vast majority of the risk and return in a multiple-asset-class portfolio is attributable to asset allocation. The following represents a broad illustration of major investment asset classes. Hedgeharbor seeks to provide investment opportunities in multiple asset classes based upon availability and market conditions. We also aim to broaden the universe of offerings as opportunities present themselves. Hedgeharbor strives to focus on managers within each asset class that have demonstrated a performance edge when compared to their peer groups and performance profiles that are superior to indices in their respective asset classes.