Private Markets Summit
18 May 2023
Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel, Sydney
Agenda
09.00-09.10 // Welcome and conference opening
09.10-10.00 // Round peg, square hole? Fitting unlisted assets into your operating model
Private market assets each have quite distinctive characteristics, in terms of information, how they value and report, and data formats for example. This session will discuss how different firms are incorporating unlisted assets into their broader operating models; including progress to date, challenges and potential solutions.
10.00-10.45 // Valuation methods in focus
This session will discuss private asset valuation methods and types of valuation risk in detail. It will consider:
- Best practice valuation and revaluation frameworks: design considerations
- Triggers and processes to monitor and adjust revaluations
- Demystifying the difference between public and private valuations
- Use of proxy methods and benchmarks: when is it appropriate and when is it not?
- Best practice use of assumptions and estimates in valuations
- Types of valuation risk to consider
- Differences between debt and equity
- Insourcing and outsourcing valuation oversight: the role for external parties
10.45-11.15 // Refreshments and networking
11.15-12.00 // Investment risk: hedging exposures from a whole-of-fund perspective
This session will discuss how different asset owners can optimise risk management of unlisted assets in a broader portfolio context. It will discuss the benefits of whole-of-portfolio management from a cashflow, margining and liquidity risk management perspective:
- Identifying and managing risk exposures and concentrations across both listed and unlisted investments
- Diversifying / hedging risk at idiosyncratic and asset class level
- Revaluations and the impact on margin requirements
- Collateral management: netting opportunities, cashflow efficiencies and liquidity optimisation
12.00-12.45 // Best practice oversight of private market investments
Regulators are on a mission to improve governance of private market assets, for example through revisions to SPS and SPG 530. This session will discuss best practice oversight of these assets:
- Ensuring board-level engagement and understanding
- Managing competing priorities: how can investors balance the short-term nature of performance reporting with long-term investment objectives
- Escalating incidents from the asset to the asset manager and superfund
- Protecting and adding value through asset management practices
- Addressing information blind-spots and optimising the quality of analytics to underpin governance processes
- The role for technology in improving management and governance
Helen Lagis
Principal – Valuations,
AustralianSuper
12.45-13.45 // Lunch & networking
13.45-14.30 // Meeting the performance test: the regulatory challenge
While performance updates on unlisted assets are typically provided at a significant lag, unit price reporting requires up-to-date information. In practice, many asset owners operate two parallel data streams to serve both the needs of the investment business, as well as the reporting function:
- SRS 550: complying with look-through on unlisted assets
- How can funds best position to meet future regulatory requirements with respect to performance reporting and measurement of unlisted asset exposures?
- What proxying methods are deemed acceptable to address gaps?
- Best practice investor reporting and auditing
14.30-15.15 // Private asset data under the microscope
This session will discuss the different types of data sets required to invest, monitor and report on unlisted assets, as well as opportunities to make better use of information that’s provided on an ad-hoc basis in different formats. It will also consider opportunities to streamline unlisted and listed data sets to support a whole-of-fund perspective:
- Democratising data: extracting value from private manager communications for the benefit of the broader business, including investment, performance and risk teams
- Consolidating and streamlining structured and unstructured data sets; where are the efficiencies?
- Providing analytics and insights for unlisted assets
- Data management to support performance and risk reporting
- How can IT/ data teams best support the requirements of the unlisted business?
- The role of investment administrators to facilitate the unlisted data challenge
15.15-15.45 // Refreshments and networking
15.45-16.30 // Best practice due diligence
Information on private markets can be hard to come by. This session will discuss how different institutions manage important forms of due diligence such as technical, legal and compliance, commercial, environmental and insurance due diligence in the unlisted assets space.
- Roles and responsibilities: how are organisations set up and who is responsible for what type of due diligence?
- The rise of direct asset due diligence: what are key areas of focus and how does this differ from manager due diligence?
- Streamlining due diligence and managing for information challenges
- Where are opportunities for improvement?
16.30-17.10 // The ESG conundrum
This session will discuss different ways in which investment managers are tackling the lack of visibility and comparability of ESG exposures, along with global trends that are driving best practice:
- Positioning for global ESG trends and regulatory shifts
- Managing for conflicting guidelines and an evolving regulatory framework
- Impact of more prescriptive regulations such as the SFDR on global standards and best practices going forward
- Comparing and contrasting investments in the absence of an industry standard
- Navigating ESG data and reporting requirements
- Contractual considerations
17.10-18.00 // Networking reception, drinks and canapés