Think Alternative launches TA Research Platform to help investors allocate to Asia hedge funds
Think Alternative Advisors LLP, the London-based boutique investment research firm, announces the launch of its TA Research Platform TM, a unique tool designed to provide investors with the research coverage, tools and insight to make better allocation decisions into Asian hedge funds.
Asia continues to intrigue and capture investor interest as it becomes the dominant driver of global growth. The partners at Think Alternative believe that hedge fund managers in this arena will be better equipped in delivering more stable long-term returns than traditional investments, due to the cyclical and volatile nature of Asian markets. However, distance, lack of resources, investor inexperience and lower transparency continue to limit investor participation in Asia. The TA Research Platform is an innovative, exclusive and fully-independent online research product designed to bridge this knowledge gap.
Co-founding partners, Alexander Kalis and Eric Anderson believe that investors will find the firm's fully independent TA Research Platform TM an invaluable and complementary addition to their investment teams.
"We're offering a true plug-and-play model," said Kalis, "where our clients can directly access an experienced and fully operational Asian-dedicated Fund of Funds team through our online research platform."
The partners have relied on their previous experience to build this one-stop shop to invest in Asia that should appeal to both novice and experienced investors alike.
"We have found a way to slice and dice all our research in order to produce some really interesting products for the TA Research Platform TM. These include reports that capture and compare the prevailing top down views, bottom up arguments and thematic investment ideas across Asia," explains Anderson.
The team also runs a virtual Asia-focused Fund of Fund which helps tie up all its research and provide clients with some additional allocation ideas.
Think Alternative uses its proprietary selection criteria to narrow down the universe of over 1,000 Asian managers to a select list of 50-100 preferred funds which are then covered on the TA Research Platform TM. The partners believe that investors will find it infinitely more valuable to be guided by a select list of high-quality funds rather than a phonebook-type database.
Each hedge fund on the preferred list undergoes an individual investment due diligence combined with a review of key non-investment risks.
Anderson explains, "By performing an operational and business assessment of the funds under review within our selection process, we give our clients the added comfort that our preferred list consists of funds with a reliable setup as well as an interesting investment opportunity."