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5th Annual Alternative Investment Conference
“An Alternative World of Possibilities"
November 9-11, 2005 • Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello, Montebello, Quebec

Opening Dinner on Wednesday, November 9, 2005 – 6 pm
Cocktails on Thursday November 10, 2005 – 6pm
Dinner on Thursday November 10, 2005 with guest speaker, Ted Sargent 7pm
Dress for the conference is business casual.
Dinner on Thursday evening is business attire.
All conference sessions will be held in the Canada room.

Wednesday, November 9
5:30 p.m. 6:00 p.m. 7:30 p.m. 8:30 p.m.	Registration - Please wear rubber soled shoes Curling tournament beings - Cocktails and canapés are served Dinner in the Heritage Room Curling Finals - Dessert in the Club House
Thursday, November 10 - Day One
7:30 - 8:30 a.m. 8:30 - 8:45 am. 8:45 - 9:30 a.m.	Breakfast in the Aux Chantignoles Dining room Opening Remarks Session One: Keynote Address in the Canada room [Download this presentation] Private equity performance: As venture capital and private equity have matured into a professional asset class, what do we actually know about their risk and return characteristics? Given mixed recent evidence on risk-adjusted returns to private equity, what distinguishes successful fund managers? Presenter: Alexander Ljungqvist, associate professor of finance, Department of Finance, New York University
9:30 - 10:15 a.m. 10:15 - 10:45 a.m. 10:45 - Noon	Session Two – Alternative Investments Overview [Download this presentation] As pension funds are buffeted by adverse markets, low interest rates and changing accounting rules they are re-examining their investment strategies. Plans that had the largest portion of their funds in the stock market are now attempting to reduce the amount of quity market risk they take without reducing their expected return. The repeal of the foreign property limits has increased the scope of opportunities for Canadian plans. The paper examines the most popular alternative investments and considers their utility to pension funds with their interest-sensitive liability structure and governance constraints. Presenter: Robert Bevan, senior ccnsultant, Towers Perrin Break in the Canada Foyer Session Three: Portfolio Construction, Part 1 - Crunching the Numbers [Download this presentation] Although many studies claim individual hedge funds expose investors to “hidden risks”, the incidence of extreme returns has been less frequent for hedge fund indices than for equity indices, even after correcting for various biases in hedge fund returns. Relying on standard risk measures to hedge funds, however, may lead to incorrect portfolio choices. Presenter: Peter Klein, associate professor, the Faculty of Business Administration, Simon Fraser University and portfolio manager at KCS Fund Strategies Inc.
	Fund of Hedge Funds Portfolio Selection [Download this presentation] How should funds of hedge funds allocate capital across various hedge fund strategies? This presentation demonstrates a simple allocation technique based on Polynomial Goal Programming. This technique provides a way to incorporate the complex return distributions of hedge funds and is easily adapted to deal with practical institutional constraints, investor preferences, and manager specified return expectations. Presenter: Ryan Davies, assistant professor of finance, Babson College
Noon - 1:30 p.m. 1:30 - 2:45 p.m.	Lunch in the Aux Chantignoles Dining room Session Four– Portfolio Construction, Part 2 - Re-thinking portfolio construction [Download this presentation] Due to the capital market conditions existing today – low returns in traditional assets classes, low interest environment – plan sponsors are faced with rethinking and restructuring their portfolios. Assuming this is correct, what are the alternative portfolio structures? Presenter: Eric Innes, president and cheif executive officer, YMG Capital Management Inc. The Alpha-Beta Split and Liability-Driven Investment: Is there a match? [Download this presentation] A portfolio with distinct alpha and beta componsnets can enable better risk-return tradeoffs and risk budgeting processes. However, for many defined benefits pension plans, the strongest reasons to separate alpha and beta are to reduce volatility in the funded ratio and to reduce or eliminate excess pension contributions. Presenter: James Knowles, principal, York Hedge Fund Strategies for RBC Global Services.
2:45 - 3:00 p.m. 3:00 - 3:45 p.m.	Break in the Canada Foyer Session Five – Are Hedge Fund Fees Too High? [Download this presentation] The fees charged by many hedge funds appear to be much higher than the fees charged by long-only managers. In fact, hedge fund fees are often lower in relation to their alpha than the fees charged by traditional long-only equity managers. We analyze and discuss the institutional fee issue in the context of both risk and return, comparing fees among hedge funds, active and passive long-only mandates and other strategies. Presenter: Jean Masson, vice-president, director, and head of Montreal research, TD Asset Management
3:45 - 4:30 p.m.	Session Six – Trustee Communication and Education [Download this presentation] Once the decision is made to take an “alternative” approach to portfolio construction, how does a plan sponsor communicate to and educate his/her board? Presenter: Rick McAloney, Keel Capital Management Inc.
5:45 p.m. 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.	Meet in the Lobby for shuttle to Golf Clubhouse. Cocktails and Dinner at the Golf Clubhose.
Friday, November 11 - Day Two
7:00 - 8:00 a.m. 8:00 - 8:45 a.m.	Breakfast in the Aux Chantignoles Dining room Session Seven New Frontiers: Trends and Capital Flows [Download this presentation] The world of alternative investing evolves very quickly. Capital flows shift quickly from out of favor asset classes to new strategies, while some time tested strategies just seem to soldier on. This presentation will highlight where the capital is going, today and tomorrow. Within the strategies drawing the greatest interest, it will examine what’s hot and what’s not. It concludes with a review of some of the most interesting and innovative new strategies, instruments and techniques that have emerged over the last year. Presenter: David Mather, executive vice-president, Integrated Asset Management
8:45 - 10:00 a.m. 10:00 - 10:30 a.m.	Session Eight: Implementation Issues Successful Implementation of Alternative Asset Programs: The Paths to the Mountaintop [Download this presentation] There are differences traditionally in implementation practice between Canada and the United States. What works best may not be obvious, and there is definitely more than one answer. The playing field is not level, and it favors the funds which have been at it for some time. There are some ways, however, of accelerating your returns that are open to new investors in the space. Presenter: Tom Gunn, President, University of British Columbia Investment Management Trust Implementation Issues Once the decision has been made, and once the board is onside, how does a plan sponsor actually implement an “alternative” approach? What are the pitfalls? What processes are required? Plan sponsors who have been there share their experience on finding a fit for alternative investments in pension portfolios. Presenter: Paul Owens, Colleges for Applied Arts and Technology Pension Plan Break in the Canada Foyer
10:30 - 11:45 a.m.	Session Nine: Portfolio Construction, Part 3 Alpha and Beta Strategies for the Post-Bubble Environment [Download this presentation] With only modest returns coming from equity and bond markets around the world, plan sponsors and investment managers alike must respond with modern solutions, incorporating a global perspective, greater guideline flexibility, and a higher contribution from active returns. Among the strategies being developed and utilised are alpha transport, tactical asset allocation, and flexible absolute return assignments. The skill set required to implement such strategies resides not only within hedge funds and alternative asset class managers, but indeed increasingly within more traditional asset management firms. This skill set have been evolving for years, for example, amongst practitioners of global asset allocation. Presenter: Jeff Knight, Putnam PanAgora Integra Canada Separating Alpha from Beta [Download this presentation] Once you have identified your preferred alpha sources, the challenge becomes implementation. This session will cover the mechanics of implementing a portable alpha program, review the instruments typically used and discuss the practical challanges and lessons learned from implementing the beta overlay in portable alpha strategies. Presenter: Nathan Dudley, Russell Investment Group
11:45 - 1:15 p.m.	Session Ten – Interactive Lunch An interactive session to discuss the results of the pension fund survey conducted in July and August.
1:15 - 2:30 p.m.	Cocktail Reception in the Canada Foyer.