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Hedge Fund Indices: Reconciling Investability and Representativity

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  • Felix Goltz
  • Lionel Martellini
  • Mathieu Vaissié

Abstract

Following a growing concern among investors about the quality of hedge fund index return data, this paper addresses the question of whether designing hedge fund indices that fulfil the usual requirements (in particular representative and investable) is or not a feasible task, given a variety of features that are specific to that industry. To test whether or not investability should necessarily come at the cost of representativity, we use a well‐known methodology in the asset pricing literature based on the concept of factor replicating portfolios. Our results suggest that it is actually possible to construct representative indices based on a limited number of funds that are open to new investments, except perhaps in the case of equity market neutral strategies, provided that: i) these funds are suitably selected and ii) a portfolio is constructed with the objective of replicating the common trend in hedge fund returns for a given strategy. A range of robustness tests are performed that show that high correlation of the factor replicating portfolios with the common factor of returns for each strategy is remarkably stable with respect to modifying the number of funds in the replicating portfolio or changing the frequency of rebalancing.

Suggested Citation

  • Felix Goltz & Lionel Martellini & Mathieu Vaissié, 2007. "Hedge Fund Indices: Reconciling Investability and Representativity," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 13(2), pages 257-286, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:eufman:v:13:y:2007:i:2:p:257-286
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-036X.2006.00354.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Noël Amenc & Lionel Martellini & Jean†Christophe Meyfredi & Volker Ziemann, 2010. "Passive Hedge Fund Replication – Beyond the Linear Case," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 16(2), pages 191-210, March.
    2. Martin Eling, 2009. "Does Hedge Fund Performance Persist? Overview and New Empirical Evidence," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 15(2), pages 362-401, March.
    3. Douglas Cumming & Lars Helge Haß & Denis Schweizer, 2014. "Strategic Asset Allocation and the Role of Alternative Investments," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 20(3), pages 521-547, June.

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