Setting alpha free

Pension funds are increasingly hiring global tactical asset allocation managers, but some analysts question whether this strategy represents a de facto hedge fund allocation by the back door. By Navroz Patel

The debate over if, and to what extent, hedge funds are suitable investments for pension funds has raged for the past few years. But some pension plans' attempts to diversify away from traditional stock and bond managers has led them in a different direction: towards global tactical asset allocation (TAA). The strategy has existed in various incarnations since the 1970s and, in essence, involves opportunistic dynamic rebalancing of assets between markets and asset classes, typically via