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Tuesday 7th October 2008 - The Commodity Almanac
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9am | Special guest chairman’s opening remarks
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| COMMODITY OUTLOOKS AND OPPORTUNITIES |
Industry experts and commodity practitioners profile major commodities and examine the opportunities now available to investors and traders
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9.15am | Charting the commodities juggernaut – where are we and where are we headed?
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| | Greg Smith, Chief Executive Officer, Global Commodities
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9.35am | A critical investment analysis of tomorrow’s global energy landscape: does oil, gas or coal hold the most potential? |
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9.55am | Investing in freight – should investors consider this a risky play or a wide-open investment opportunity?
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10.15am | Join the carbon revolution – why you should invest/trade in CO2
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10.35am | Morning coffee and networking
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| RUNNING WITH THE SOFTS AND AGS BULLS |
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11.05am | Is this the beginning or the end of the agricultural bull-run?
- The impact of population growth, global economic growth and collective compound consumption on ag prices
- How do climate change, extreme weather and desertification influence price and return?
- What’s the best way to gain exposure to agriculture? Index investment or more actively managed funds?
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11.25am | New energies, new opportunities: how you can capture the growing upside in biofuels
- Can biofuels really meet future global energy demands? And what challenges do biofuels face?
- Biofuels vs oil: what is the better bet in tomorrow’s investor portfolio and why?
- Understanding the benefits and risks of investing/trading in biofuels
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11.45am | Are soft commodities a better bet than hard assets in today’s investment portfolio?
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| | Doug King, Chief Investment Officer, Aisling Analytics
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12.05pm | Keynote softs and ags panel: focussed discussion on supply/demand drivers, fundamentals, production economics, historical returns/cycles, volatility, investment drivers/opportunities and outlook
- Who and what will play a large role in determining future prices?
- How big an impact will climate change and global warming have?
- How has the increase in total commodities investment from speculative investors, active managers and institutions affected each group’s individual market dynamics and recent performance?
- Why should an investor/trader include soft and ags in their portfolio?
- Short, medium and long-term outlooks
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| | Doug King, Chief Investment Officer, Aisling Analytics
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12.45pm | Networking lunch
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| EXPLORING METAL MARKET FUNDAMENTALS, ECONOMICS AND INVESTMENT DRIVERS |
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1.50pm | A fundamental and investment analysis of gold vs base metals |
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2.20pm | Keynote metals panel: focussed discussion on supply/demand drivers, fundamentals, production economics, historical returns/cycles, volatility, investment drivers/opportunities and outlook
- Who and what will play a large role in determining future prices?
- How big an impact will climate change and global warming have?
- How has the increase in total commodities investment from speculative investors, active managers and institutions affected each group’s individual market dynamics and recent performance?
- Why should an investor/trader include metals in their portfolio?
- Short, medium and long-term outlooks
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| | Jeremy Weir, Chief Executive Officer, Galena Asset Management Lars Steffensen, Managing Director, Commodity Trading Group, Ebullio Capital Management
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3pm | Speed Networking – a quick fire networking session where you meet all attendees
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| MINIMISING RISK AND MAXIMISING RETURNS IN COMMODITY INVESTING/TRADING |
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3.40pm | Implementing a proven risk management strategy in your commodities portfolio
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4pm | Major trends in technology for commodity trading
- Financial players moving into physical requires a new set of players relative to traditional banking systems
- Integration towards market places: a trend in pure commodity systems, automatic deal capture
- Productification of solutions: more plug-and-play, less bespoking, examples from other software niches
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| | Henrik Sætness, Executive Vice President and Head, Products and Consulting, Navita
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4.20pm | The Halo of Neutrality: Getting Accurate Valuations and Risk Across Your Entire Commodity Portfolio
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4.40pm | Keynote investor panel: investment, opportunity, risk, return – selecting the right commodity investment
A selection of diverse CEOs, CIOs and Portfolio Managers give their perspectives on the current commodity markets, where they are investing and why
- Picking the right commodity(ies) investment for your portfolio
- Where in the commodities markets should investors now look to invest?
- Comparing the major commodity groups: historic returns, liquidity, accessibility and return potential
- Should gold, oil, or softs and ags, be the cornerstone of any new commodity investment allocation?
- How can you ensure high returns in today’s commodities markets?
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| | Kevin Kerr, President and Chief Investment Officer, Kerr Trading International Jeremy Weir, Chief Executive Officer, Galena Asset Management Tim Weir, Chief Executive Officer, Wessex Asset Management
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5.30pm | Chairman’s closing remarks followed by Cocktail Reception
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Wednesday 8th October 2008 - The Investment Forum – Part 1
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9am | Special guest chairman’s opening remarks
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| ARE GLOBAL MACROECONOMICS AND MARKET DYNAMICS POINTING TO A CONTINUING COMMODITIES BOOM OR A BUBBLE BURST? |
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9.10am | Keynote address: exploring the big picture of commodity investments and asset allocations
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9.40am | Keynote economic panel: credit crunch, continuing supply-demand imbalances, failing US$ and economy, increased global equity market volatility and BRIC growth – are commodities in the ‘perfect storm’?
- The current global macroeconomic picture: trends, challenges, influencers
- Is economic growth slowing or shifting from developed to developing nations? If so is economic power also shifting?
- Has credit finally run out? How will the increasing cost of capital and burrowing affect commodity producers? And what implications does this have for the financial and commodity markets?
- How have recent inflation rates and the US$ and economy influenced investor behaviour?
- The growing influence of Sovereign Wealth Funds on financial markets and investment
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| | Andrew Spence, Chief Economist and Vice President, Asset Mix and Risk, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Richard Egelton, Chief Economist & Vice President, Economic and Market Forecasts, CPP Investment Board
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10.40am | Morning coffee and networking
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| GOING MAINSTREAM – THE EXPLOSION OF THE ALTERNATIVES |
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11.10am | Investor brainstorm: are alternative asset classes now a better investment than traditional asset classes?
- What big challenges are investors facing today?
- Commentaries on the recent performances of alternative vs traditional asset classes
- Will investors allocate more money into alternative asset classes over the short, medium and long terms?
- How much will commodities play into these allocations?
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| | Jim Slater, Deputy Chairman, Agrifirma Services Limited & Investor and Author Tim Price, Director, Investments, PFP Wealth Management
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11.50am | The traders’ den: the world’s top traders explain why you need to invest in commodities and now!
- Following the convergence of OTC and listed-derivatives how can investors best access commodities?
- Technical analysis vs fundamental analysis vs trend following: how do traders analyse tomorrow’s market?
- Trading strategies and tips for enhanced returns
- The rise of the machines: the changing faces/formats of exchanges and what this means for traders/investors
- What is the impact of the investment world on the actual supply/demand fundamentals of the underlying commodity?
- What commodities will perform best in the short, medium and long-term?
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| | Kevin Kerr, President and Chief Investment Officer, Kerr Trading International Christoph Eibl, Co-Founder and Head, Trading, Tiberius Asset Management
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12.30pm | Special address: the future of commodities as an asset class
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1pm | Networking lunch
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| EXPLORING NEW AND EXISTING INSTITUTIONAL COMMODITY ALLOCATIONS |
Internationally renowned institutional investors tell you their perspectives on commodity investments and why they have, or have not, decided to incorporate them in their future asset allocations
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2pm | Keynote investor panel: the case for and against – are commodity investments now ‘a must have’ allocation in an institutional fund?
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| | Andrew Spence, Chief Economist and Vice President, Asset Mix and Risk, Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Mads Gosvig, Beta Portfolio Manager and Head, Liability Hedging, ATP Geoff Reader, Head, Pensions and Treasury Management, Bedfordshire County Council Philip Latham, Head, Pensions and Funds, Flintshire County Council Tim Carney, Pensions Manager and Secretary to the Trustee, Ernst & Young
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3pm | Consultants’ corner: what is the consultant community’s current perspective on commodities as a viable asset class?
- Are consultants advising institutions to make new/continued commodity investments? If not, why not?
- What should institutions consider before committing to a commodities allocation?
- What roadblocks are currently stopping institutions investing into the asset class?
- Should tomorrow’s institutional portfolios have a (larger) weighting to commodities?
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| | Alex Koriath, Principal Consultant, Investment Advisory, Pensions, Tax & People Services, KPMG David Hoile, Senior Investment Consultant, Watson Wyatt
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3.30pm | Speed Networking – a quick fire networking session where you meet all attendees
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| SUCCESSFULLY INCORPORATING COMMODITIES INTO YOUR PORTFOLIO |
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4.15pm | Investor case study: commodities – a must have investment!!
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| | Pierre Guillemin, Managing Director, Alternative Investments, Swiss Life Asset Management
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4.30pm | Keynote investor insights: why, and how to, include commodities within an investment portfolio
- A series of executive-level insights into the composition and strategies of various institutional commodity allocations
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| | Frans De Wit, Senior Investment Manager, Beta Portfolios, PGGM Ms Laura Männistö, Portfolio Manager, Allocation & Alternative Investments, Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Company
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5.15pm | Closing keynote investor panel: overcoming common implementation challenges of putting commodity investment theory into practice
- Defining the primary and secondary roles of commodities in an investment portfolio
- Identifying, creating and implementing a framework for projecting medium and long-term return rates for commodities investments
- Getting the weight right: what allocation should investors make to commodities, and to separate commodity groups?
- Setting benchmarks for the performance of your allocations
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| | Pierre Guillemin, Managing Director, Alternative Investments, Swiss Life Asset Management Tyler Stevens, Managing Director, Commodities & Fixed Income, Commonfund Asset Management Company Nick Koutsoftas, Vice President and Sector Portfolio Manager, Energy & Commodities, GE Asset Management
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5.45pm | Chairman’s closing remarks followed by Evening Reception
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Thursday 9th October 2008 - The Investment Forum – Part 2
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9am | Special guest chairman’s opening remarks
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| ACHIEVING OPTIMAL STRATEGIC AND TACTICAL ASSET ALLOCATION |
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9.10am | Keynote address
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| | Frank Holmes, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer, US Global Investors
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9.35am | Keynote address: charting the rise of commodity-based equities – are current supply and demand fundamentals and the increasing influence of emerging markets favouring direct, or indirect investments?
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| | Dr Graham Birch, Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer, Natural Resources, BlackRock
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10am | The big debate: what is best practice in commodity investing (commodities (long-only) vs actively traded commodities vs commodity equities)?
- How should an investor gain exposure to commodities?
- What are the pros and cons of each approach and is it the case of one or the other?
- How and where are other fund managers and allocators currently investing?
- Assessing the risk-reward profile of each approach: differences in liquidity, volatility and historical return
- Will commodity equities outperform commodities in the long-term?
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| | Dr Graham Birch, Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer, Natural Resources, BlackRock Bruce Albrecht, Senior Vice President, Group Asset Management, Butterfield Bank Robert Chardon, Vice President and Portfolio Manager, Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch & Cie
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10.45am | Morning coffee and networking
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| ANALYSING FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS OFFERING COMMODITY EXPOSURE |
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11.25am | Is passive still a winner? Exploring the past, the present and the future of passive investment
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| | Eric Kolts, Vice President, Commodity Indices, Standard & Poor’s
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11.45am | Incorporating ETFs strategically in your investment portfolio
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12.05pm | Delivering investors higher returns through the innovation and creation of active products
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| | Mr Frederic Hervouet, Managing Director, Co-Global Head, Commodity Investor Derivatives, BNP Paribas
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12.25pm | Networking lunch
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| ENHANCING YOUR RETURNS THROUGH ACTIVE COMMODITY INVESTMENT |
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2pm | Special address: can active commodities management really bring investors greater returns?
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2.20pm | The big debate: has structured alpha spelt the beginning of the end for indexes and passive investment?
- Can enhanced indexes and structured alpha really unlock new value and higher returns for investors?
- Exploring the benefits and differences of enhanced index strategies vs active management
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| | Greg Smith, Chief Executive Officer, Global Commodities Frederic Dodard, Head, Tactical Asset Allocation and Balanced Portfolio Management, SSgA Eric Kolts, Vice President, Commodity Indices, Standard & Poor’s Nick Koutsoftas, Vice President and Sector Portfolio Manager, Energy & Commodities, GE Asset Management Mr Frederic Hervouet, Managing Director, Co-Global Head, Commodity Investor Derivatives, BNP Paribas
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3.20pm | Afternoon tea and networking
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| ASSESSING DIFFERENT ACTIVE METHODOLOGIES |
Guest Session Chair: David Mooney, Portfolio Manager, Commodities, NewFinance Capital
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3.45pm | Hedge fund perspectives: a series of renowned money managers give their perspectives on the current commodity markets
- How they currently view the supply and demand fundamentals of the commodity markets
- What opportunities they believe the markets currently contain
- Their funds, compositions and market strategies and outlooks for the sector
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| | Doug King, Chief Investment Officer, Aisling Analytics
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4.15pm | Keynote investor panel: CIOs and fund managers discuss the future of active commodity investment
- What has the increasing presence of commodity hedge funds and speculative investors had on commodity markets?
- Can hedge funds really outperform passive investment strategies in the long-term?
- Analysing recent markets trends and behaviours: how might hedge fund managers perceive these differently from other investors?
- Exploring the strategies used by commodity funds, and why hedge funds might offer the better bet for investors
- Are fund managers properly addressing slippage in the commodities markets?
- What does the future hold for those actively investing in commodities?
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| | Doug King, Chief Investment Officer, Aisling Analytics Brad Cole, President and Chief Executive Officer, Cole Partners Asset Management Harri Toivonen, Founder and Portfolio Manager, Contango Fund Management
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5pm | Chairman’s closing remarks followed by Cocktail Reception
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6pm | Close of Commodities Week Europe 2008
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