FIN 453 – Alternative Investments from an Institutional Investor’s Perspective

Contents
Institutional investors like pension funds, insurance companies, or sovereign wealth funds administrate sizeable asset portfolios and invest in a broad scope of asset classes. This course will focus on so called alternative asset classes like private equity, private debt, investments in infrastructure projects, hedge funds strategies and real estate investments. These asset classes become more and more important for investors in the context of a low interest environment. The role of these asset classes in an institutional portfolio and the challenges of investing will be explained. The organizational set-up and other structural requirements of institutional investors will also be discussed.

Learning outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, students

• develop an understanding of important issues in institutional investments, especially in so called alternative asset classes like private equity, private debt, investments in infrastructure projects, hedge funds strategies and real estate investments.
• understand these asset classes and their related challenges for investors.
• learn how institutional investors are organized and how they act in the capital markets.