Managing Hedge Fund Risk: Strategies and Insights from Investors, Counterparties, Hedge Funds and Regulators, Second Edition [Hardcover]

Virginia Reynolds Parker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 2005 | ISBN-10: 1904339409 | ISBN-13: 978-1904339403 | Edition: 2nd

Available now in a fully revised and updated second edition, Managing Hedge Fund Risk is the market-leading guide on risk for the hedge fund industry. A highly accessible primer on hedge fund risk illustrated with practical examples. Analyses recent developments in risk management research. Provides quality information for risk managers within different types of investment structures, e.g. investment banks, funds of funds, family offices, asset management firms, pension funds, endowments and foundations, and consultancies. Contributions from leading practitioners with considerable expertise in their areas, drawn from, among others, AIG, Balfour Capital, Calpers, C-View, Evaluation Associates, Forest Investment Management, NetRisk and academia Essential reading for investment bankers, allocators, dealers, counterparties, prime brokers, institutions, private investors, corporate plan sponsors and consultants.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Virginia Reynolds Parker is the founder of Parker Global Strategies (PGS), a firm that specialises in custom designing and managing funds of hedge funds (FoHF) for institutional clients across the globe. Since 1995, PGS has designed over 20 multi-manager programmes and advised on over US$1.75 billion. PGS was among the first FoHF firms to apply risk management oversight to its funds. Virginia has expertise in traditional and alternative investment strategies, and a strong background in currency risk and returns, risk measurement and management of multi-manager hedge fund portfolios. She has developed industry-recognised performance benchmarks for foreign exchange. Her research is widely published and she is a frequent speaker at industry conferences. From 1988 until 1995, Virginia was managing director and director of research and risk management at Ferrell Capital Management. Previously, she was the CIO for a family office. Virginia earned an AB in economics and political science from Duke University. Virginia is an OPM graduate of Harvard Business School. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst, a member of the New York Society of Security Analysts, Stamford Society of Security Analysts, International Association of Financial Engineers, a founding member and angel of “100 Women in Hedge Funds” and serves on the Board of The Foundation for Managed Derivatives Research.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 385 pages
• Publisher: Risk Books; 2nd edition (June 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1904339409
• ISBN-13: 978-1904339403
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,104,322 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Guide for Protecting Against Financial Pain, July 29, 2005

By 

C. Kurdas (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Managing Hedge Fund Risk: Strategies and Insights from Investors, Counterparties, Hedge Funds and Regulators, Second Edition (Hardcover)

This couldn't be timelier. Much water has passed under the bridges on both Wall Street and Main Street since the first edition came out in 2000. As Editor Virginia Reynolds Parker points out, there's been a bear market and hedge fund assets have more than doubled to over $1 trillion dollars. Meanwhile, Parker's book became the standard reference for hedge fund investors. The updated version should prove just as useful and indispensable.

Pensions in particular have been flocking to hedge funds, the fancy and expensive cousins of mutual funds that the media insistently calls "risky". But what does that really mean? There are two ways of using this book. If you're looking for specific information on hedge fund strategies and the hazards they may involve, turn to the appropriate chapter. In the spring of 2005, for instance, when convertible arbitrage returns turned into copious amounts of red ink, you could have read detailed descriptions of how convertible securities perform in the face of various shocks and why convertible returns have been disappointing since 2002 (chapter 10).

If, on the other hand, you want to grapple more broadly with the slippery idea of risk, start with the paper by Robert Jaeger on how to define it, measure it, and manage it. He makes this complex topic comprehensible. In simple terms, risk is expected pain. Assessing it in any situation requires answers to two questions: How likely are the painful outcomes? How bad is the potential pain? Jaeger points out that the answers may not be numerical. Even if you have data, you're not going to understand risk by looking at numbers.

The pieces are written by investors, managers, bankers, and lawyers. The book conveniently bundles these together in sections, starting with the investors' perspective. Mark Anson, the chief investment officer of the California Employees' Retirement System, leads the lineup with a study on how to measure performance. His findings are essential to anybody that invests in hedge funds.

Maybe these intricacies are not for you. In that case, make sure your financial adviser, consultant, pension officer, and foundation chief read this book.