Often, the management and oversight of private and family foundations are closely linked with affiliated family offices and trusts. Further, like these foundations family offices and trusts share a need for professional asset management yet they may find that traditional providers of investment services to family offices and trusts such as bank trust departments, private banks and brokerage firms typically lack an institutional rigor and quality in alternative asset management. For this reason, Commonfund now offers a full array of alternative investment strategies to such institutions, including:
- Global Venture Capital
- U.S. Private Equity
- Global Private Equity ex.-U.S.
- Natural Resources
- Hedge Funds
- Commodities
- Distressed Investing
Our approach is that of an investment manager either for a single investment program or to implement a broadly diversified alternatives portfolio, complementing the role of your advisors and staff as the overseer of your entire portfolio. We provide commingled funds for all programs and can offer separate accounts to eligible investors for a range of directional, relative value and diversified hedge fund strategies as well as commodity investments.
Fundamental to our approach to alternative investing is education and on-going due diligence and risk management to help investors understand fully the sources of investment performance and the risks of investing – not just in “normal” times, but when financial markets are stressed. We recognize that among the greatest challenges faced by family offices and trusts is integrating an investment strategy with an overall wealth plan. And, therefore it is critical that alternative investment programs are effectively integrated with traditional long-only equity and fixed income portfolios to ensure that the portfolio in aggregate is capable of providing target returns and liquidity within your specific risk tolerances.