Rydex|SGI held a press breakfast Tuesday to showcase their new brand and their outlook regarding the future utility of alternative investment strategies in light of the equity market volatility that defined 2008. SGI currently provides several funds whose strategies fall under the umbrella of alternative, such as Alternative Strategies Allocation, Global 130/30 Strategy and Multi-Hedge Strategies.

Rydex and Security Global Investors (both part of the Security Benefit family) merged their brands last month (see MFWire, 5/27/2009). The combined asset manager now operates as Rydex|SGI in the advisor channel and as SGI|Security Global Investors in the institutional marketplace.

The stated goals of the meeting were to reinforce commitments to such alternative strategies, establish the role alternatives still have within an allocation framework and answer the questions "what happened in 2008?" and "how did diversification fare?".

"Our task is to educate and create an environment for capital preservation," noted Sanjay Yodh, managing director for alternative strategies at SGI.

Speakers cited SGI affiliate AdvisorBenchmarking's survey for evidence that while significant interest in alternative strategies continues to grow, a need for increased education is also apparent.

Maarten Nederlof, managing principal at Safari Advisors LLC, was brought in to to present the white paper Alternatives 2.0, a "thought piece" and perspective for moving forward which he co-authored along with Yodh and Melissa Hieger, an independent financial consultant.

The presenters also focused on the appropriateness of '40-Act-structured alternative strategies in light of more general concerns regarding alternatives.

Nederlof noted that there was an attendant surge in interest in ETFs and managed accounts moving forward out of the period of volatility, as well as a growing appreciation for liquid, transparent alternative strategies.

The prescriptive content of the paper lay largely in what SGI termed a "10 Step Process" to evaluate and implement alternative strategies. While this process was geared towards the institutional side, the presenters noted the potential for a shared vision and thus shared application of the process between institutional and retail interests.

SGI also used the meeting as an opportunity to reveal the launch of the "Get Alt" website, an interactive tool that seeks to give insight as to how to think about industry activities and begin conversations with advisors with regards to strategy implementation. 

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