Ian Barnard

Hedging London's trophy, real-estate assets for family office clients

This case study illustrates how closely CapGEN consider the impact of real assets where they are co-mingled with liquid assets in the structure. One large client portfolio has a mix of assets but with a large single investment in core real estate in London. As with all our client portfolios I considered the need to hedge the currency risk, when to do so and which instrument offered the best range of outcomes for the client. The decision is monitored and altered as the markets shifts. In this instance, I decided that the Sterling asset needed to be hedged, so bought a GBPUSD forward to hedge the position, which protected it for the last two years. The valuation signal has now reversed, however trends remain negative combined with uncertainty over Brexit, together with a divergence in relative interest rates between the UK and US. So the hedge is being actively monitored and will be amended as conditions evolve.