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University of Mauritius
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In its broadest definition, alternative investment assets are those which are
not part of traditional asset classes such as cash, stocks, or bonds that retail
investors are most familiar with.

MA 2006(3): Alternative Investments There are six basic categories of alternative investments:
BSc (Hons.) Mathematics with Finance
Year 2 Semester 2 Alternative Investments

Lecture 1: Introduction to Alternative Real Private Commodity Hedge Managed Distressed

Estate Equity Funds Futures Securities
Investments
Dr Nawdha Thakoor

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q Invest in private companies q Equity and Debt investments in residential and commercial properties

q Take public companies private q Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)

q Publicly listed equity
q Use Leveraged Buy Out (LBO) strategy
q Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS)
q Higher return à higher risk à higher expected return q Publicly traded debt

q Venture Capital q Private investment vehicles that own properties or associated loans
Invest in young companies (start-
ups/scale ups) at various early
growth stages

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Common Features of Alternative Investments:
1. Low liquidity. Because of their general lack of liquidity, alternative investment There are subgroups within each of the classes of alternative investments, and in some
returns include a liquidity premium. cases there is more than one way to categorize the investment subgroups.

2. Diversification. As most alternative investments are minimally correlated with stock

and bond returns, they are a good diversification tool for a stock and bond portfolio and One of the more common methods is whether the investments are direct or indirect.
therefore can add significant return while reducing risk.

3. Due diligence costs. Generally, in a direct investment, you actually own the asset, and in an indirect
Many alternative investments are complex and require a lot of time to analyze all investment, you own shares of a fund (e.g., a limited partnership) that owns the assets.
relevant information. This may be a limiting factor for smaller portfolios. Costs
associated with researching and monitoring alternative investments can be high.

4. Difficult to value. It is sometimes very difficult to value (appraise) alternative

investments because of lack of transparency and/or difficulty identifying appropriate
valuation benchmarks.

5. Access to information. Markets for alternative investments are informationally less

efficient than most stock markets. Due to lower volume of trading, the data, facts and
figures pertaining to alternative Investments are difficult to obtain.
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This includes direct or indirect ownership interests in land and structures on that land.
As with most assets, real estate can be broken down into direct and indirect.
Examples of direct investment in real estate include
q ownership of residences,
q commercial real estate,
q agricultural land,
q the ownership involves direct management of the assets.
Indirect investment in real estate generally means there is a well-defined middle group
that manages the properties.
Indirect real estate investments include:
q Companies that develop and manage real estate.
q Real estate investment trusts (REITs), which are publicly traded shares in a
portfolio of real estate.
q Infrastructure funds, which provide private investment in public projects like
schools and hospitals for a promised cash flow in the future.
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A direct investment in private equity is when the investor purchases a claim
directly from the firm (e.g., preferred shares of stock), which has some
minimum guaranteed payment before the common equity owners get paid.
Indirect investment is usually done through private equity funds, which include
venture capital (VC) and buyout funds. In a venture capital limited
partnership, the manager (general partner) invests the investors’ (limited
partners’) money in many companies and attempts to realize value by
developing portfolio companies and exiting (i.e., liquidating the investments)
within a specific time period.
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Not all equities are listed on stock exchanges. Private Equity refers to funds that
institutional investors or high net worth investors directly place in private companies or
in the process of buyout of public companies. Usually these private companies then
utilize the capital for their organic and inorganic growth.
Private equity subgroups include start-up companies, middle-market private companies,
and private investment in public entities.
The distinguishing feature of the subgroups is the stage of development of the company
receiving the invested dollars.
q Start-up or formative-stage companies are those that have not yet or have
just begun selling a product.
q Middle-market private companies are established, have significant revenues,
and may even be preparing for an Initial Public Offering (IPO).
q Private investment in public entities (PIPEs) refers to private equity investors
purchasing or privatizing a public company, purchasing an established private
company, or purchasing a division of an established company.
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Commodity investments can also be grouped into direct and indirect
subgroups.
Direct investment is
q through the purchase of the physical commodity (e.g., as agricultural
products, crude oil, metals)
q or the purchase of derivatives (e.g., futures) on those assets.
Indirect investment in commodities is usually done through investment in
companies whose principal business is associated with a commodity (e.g.,
investing in a metal via ownership of shares in a mining company).
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