Opalesque A SQUARE = Alternative Alternatives is the first web publication, globally, that is dedicated exclusively to “alternative” investments. A SQUARE's weekly selection feature unique investment opportunities that bear virtually no correlation to the main stream hedge fund strategies and/or distinguish themselves by virtue of their “alternative” motive - social, behavioural, natural resources, sustainable /environment related investing.

With its “research that reveals” approach, fast facts and investment oriented analysis, A SQUARE offers diversification and complementary ideas for: private, high net-worth and institutional investors, pension funds and endowments, portfolio and hedge funds managers.

Opalesque was formed in 2001 to provide professional news services to participants in the alternative investment sector. Since inception, Opalesque has been providing premium online information services related to the hedge fund and investment industries. The Opalesque publication Alternative Market Briefing is the only daily hedge fund news service read by the elite hedge fund managers themselves.

Opalesque started A SQUARE (Alternative Alternatives) on January 16th 2007 as a weekly proprietary research newsletter featuring unique investment opportunities which bear virtually no correlation to the main stream hedge fund strategies and/or distinguish themselves by virtue of their "alternative" motive - social, behavioral, natural resources, sustainable/environment related investing. For large institutional portfolios, Alternative Alternatives can add uncorrelated return streams while balancing the downside risk. The correlation of hedge fund strategies amongst themselves and with other markets and asset classes is increasing. Market volatility is adding risk to stand-alone investments and even in traditional portfolio allocation models. As a consequence, institutional investors, pension funds and also high net worth investors have intensified their quest for uncorrelated returns from non-traditional alpha sources.

The “A SQUARE alternative” universe:

Traditional Alternatives:

• Real estate
• Commodities - gold, silver, copper etc.
• Currencies
• Collectibles - art, wine, vintage cars, coins, postage stamps etc.
• All forms of credit based lending/factoring

Modern Alternatives:

• New asset classes:
• Investible Indices
• ETFs
• Structured finance - SPV, certificates, notes, synthetics
• Hybrid products
• Environment and infrastructure led investing: carbon emissions; waste re-cycling; water, air, forest, energy; new tech; clean tech and beyond
• Psychology based investing: behavioural finance; “vice” investing
• Entertainment financing – movies, music and more.

Opalesque A SQUARE is researched, authored and edited by Florian Guldner and Kirsten Bischoff. Florian graduated in economics from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, focusing on financial markets theory and game theory. Kirsten has worked in the financial industry for five years as part of the investor relations team at a fixed income hedge fund, and more recently in the account management group at BlackRock.

About Opalesque Solutions:

 The Alternative Investments Industry is changing. To gain or keep your competitive edge in the new alternative investments world, you need to deploy new technological solutions to your business. We develop solutions for the alternative investments industry that use Semantics, Folksonomy, Mashups and other Web 2.0 technology. Basically, we build technological solutions that connect people in the alternative investments industry to what they are looking for. Our solutions encourage transparency and independence for our users.

Opalesque Solutions Pte. Ltd. is the dedicated technology arm of the Opalesque Media Group, bringing new products, solutions and technology to the financial community.