A simple recipe: The greatest ingredients in the complex melting pot of strategies are basic ones

Deep Dive into absolute return

The absolute return sector is a wonderful melting pot of investment strategies. It has caused little surprise to see the strong growth of the sector, as asset allocators and direct investors alike seek diversified returns in this uncertain market environment.

The diversity of approaches taken by managers within the sector is one of its key strengths. Undeniably, the sector's somewhat opaque name also leads to confusion about precisely what each strategy is trying to achieve, and how they go about it.  We broadly think about the sector as a collection of three sub-sectors: quantitative/systematic, alternative, and traditional. At Latitude Investment Management, we sit firmly in the last category.  Many funds deploy quantitative or systematic strategies, often using a long-short equity or relative value approach to time markets and genera...