alternative markets update h1 2021 summary

Hedge funds are doing very well currently. After having suffered substantial drawdowns in March 2020, they delivered what they promised to do. They were able to limit losses well, while profiting significantly from the subsequent upswing. This positioned hedge funds in a good light towards potential investors that previously stepped away from hedge funds or planned to, due to their frequent inability to generate excess returns in boom phases over the last few years. As the crisis was handled well by the industry, this perception significantly shifted. Preqin reported that the average return of hedge funds in 2020 was 16.69% and 12.73% as of June 2021, which are remarkable numbers for this environment. In particular, as some sectors and industries, such as fixed income, are struggling since Covid-19 emerged. Figures 9 to 14 provide a summary of our benchmark indices compared to other widely known benchmarks, based on fixed income, equity, tactical trading and fund of hedge funds strategies. Our two major benchmark indices, the SMC Single Manager Cross-Asset Index and the SMC Cross-Asset Index, are up 26.79% and 24.59% as of June 2021. Fixed Income strategies continue to struggle but managed to achieve solid one-digit returns over 2020 and 2021. The two most outstanding strategies in this asset class are European High Yield L/S Credit with a return of 13.37% in 2021 and Trade Finance Crypto with a YTD of 9.11%. The latter also has not experienced a single negative monthly return since its inception in January 2017. The performance of equity-based strategies in 2021 is 7%, while the individual strategies widely varied since 2020. On the one hand, Long/Short US Equity Consumer, TMT, Healthcare had a stellar return of 66% in 2020 but is stagnating in 2021 with a YTD of 0.13%. On the other hand, Equities US Activist Event Driven was up only 2.52% in 2020 but is up 30.68% in 2021 so far. Our SMC Tactical Trading Strategy Index is up 14% in 2021 and was up 62% in 2020. The global macro strategies deviate strongly from each other’s monthly returns. The Discretionary Global Macro strategy is up 26% in 2021, even though it suffered a loss of 18% in June 2021. In 2020, the strategy also achieved a return of 27%. The Systematic Global Macro strategy is up only 2% as of June 2021 but was up 97% in 2020. Unsurprisingly, the SMC Cryptocurrency Strategy Index had the best performance in both 2021 and 2020. In 2021, the index is up 101% and in 2020 340%. The crypto-based strategies range from Token Liquid with a YTD 2021 of 171% to Bitcoin that is up only 19.2% YTD 2021. Over the last two years, the Token strategy was the most successful one with being up 504% in 2020 and another 164% in 2021. Cryptocurrencies are further described in following section.

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RESEARCH PERSPECTIVE VOL. 160 July 2021 Alternative Markets Update H1 2021 Inflation has been one of the most discussed topics in 2021 following the unprecedented money printing in the previous year. During the last year, it was barely considered, despite the money printing and quantitative easing. Probably because the direct impact of Covid-19 was more important than the future implications of the money printing, whereas now with the current vaccination Covid-19 does not have the same importance anymore. While the US inflation remained closely above 1% during 2020, it strongly surged since 2021. As Figure 1 shows, the inflation of the US is at 5.4% in July 2021 from only 1.4% in January 2021. Furthermore, the May YoY change of 3.8% was highest since the 1990s. The inflation in Europe also rose but is currently significantly lower with 2.4% in the UK and 2.3% in Germany for example. It is likely because the US printed a lot more money relatively than European countries; therefore, a higher inflation seems reasonable. With regards to the expectation of inflation, it is assumed that inflation is rising during 2021 but will decline again in 2022. For example, the UK announced that it is expected that inflation will reach 4% by the end of the year. To emphasize the severity of the intervention of the US, the debt ceiling was surpassed by a huge amount (approximately $6tn). The limit set was surpassed frequently, although never to the extent than in 2020 and 2021 as shown in Figure 2. Figure 1: US Inflation over the Last Year, Source: Trading Economics & U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, July 2021 Figure 2: Total Public Debt and Statutory Debt Limit, Source: Bianco Research LLC, July 2021 Since Covid-19, bond yields have collapsed. Figure 3 shows the yields of the 1-year treasury bill and the 10- and 30-year treasury notes. In March 2020, the US treasury bill dropped from 1.5% to almost 0% within weeks. Similarly, the 10-year note dropped from almost 2% to approximately 0.5%. During 2020, the yields remained at this level with the slight tendency of the treasury bill to decrease even further, while the notes increased slightly over time. At the beginning of 2021, the treasury bill is moving closer and closer to 0% with currently being at 0.07%. Both, the 10- and 30-year notes almost reclaimed their pre-crisis levels in March 2021. However, since then, they fell again substantially. This coincides with the steep surge of US inflation in April 2021 and forward. As of the time of writing, the 10-year note is at 1.30% and the 30-year note is at 1.92%, which is remarkably close to the level before the crisis, in particular in comparison to the 1-year treasury bill. Many developed countries, such as Germany currently experience a negative yield curve until the very long maturities. The UK is also an exception, as its entire yield curve with a maturity of more than one year is positive. This environment of high inflation and low bond yields increases the attractivity of commodities, equities and private debt, as well as other alternative assets. Gold was an attractive investment over the last two years, after it underperformed for nearly decade. After the geopolitical tensions between the US and China started in spring 2019, gold surged strongly. Then, Covid-19 happened, and it decreased strongly, but relatively little compared to other asset, due to its strong performance previously. With the reactions from governments and their central banks, the fear of inflation spurred gold further, such that it reached its all-time high of almost $2,100 per ounce. Since then, it decreased during the remainder of 2020, and in 2021, it remained between $1,700 and $1,900 for most of the time. Figure 4 shows the price development of gold during the last two years, while Figure 5 shows a breakdown of gold’s returns in H1 2021 and an attribution to its key drivers. In the first three months of 2021, the uncertainty in the market implied that the gold should rise, but it fell instead, which is attributable to rising interest rates during that time. Nevertheless, a large portion of why gold lost is not explained by the key factors. This changed in the months April to June, in which momentum was the dominant factor that explained the movement of gold reasonably well. Another important commodity, oil had a great 2021 so far. Since March 2020, when the April WTI crude futures went negative, oil had a very stable recovery and WTI crude oil recently reached $75 per barrel but has declined slightly. The price development of WTI crude oil is shown in Figure 6. Moreover, the OPEC+ decided earlier in July to increase the production by 400k barrels per day in August 2021. Figure 3: Comparison of 1-Year Treasury Bill, 10-Year and 30-Year Notes Since January 2020, Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury, July 2021 Figure 4: Gold Price from August 2019 to July 2021, Source: Gold Price, July 2021 Figure 5: Contribution of Gold’s Key Drivers to its Performance in H1 2021, Source: Goldhub, July 2021 Figure 6: WTI Crude Oil Price from January 2020 to July 2021, Source: FRED, July 2021 Equities, another common alternative to falling interest rates, have surged enormously since Covid-19 emerged. Figure 7 shows the price development of the S&P 500 from January 2020 until July 2021. In March 2020, the S&P 500 experienced its quickest drop in history, falling to 2,237 after being on course to hit 3,500 mark for the first time. The index recovered extremely quickly and closed the year 2020 at a record high of 3,756. This bull run continued in 2021 and has not stopped, as the S&P 500 just reached another record with 4,412. Since its low in 2020, the S&P 500 surged by almost 100%. This development also applies to the DJIA and the Russell 1000. Similar developments also occurred in Europe but not to the same degree. One notable exemption is the UK with its FTSE 100, which is still significantly down from its pre-crisis level, but this is also largely attributable to Brexit. Almost any other asset class suffered massively under Covid-19 except equities, as Figure 8 suggests. The recession following Covid-19 only existed for two months, despite the highest peak unemployment compared to previous crises. Figure 7: Value of S&P 500 from January 2020 to July 2021, Source: WSJ Markets, July 2021 Figure 8: Pandemic Recession in Comparison to Other Major Recessions in the US, Source: NBER, U.S. Bureau of Statistics & Statista, July 2021 In the following paragraphs, alternative assets are being looked at in this current ecosystem. This includes hedge funds, cryptocurrencies, private equity, private debt and real estate.   Hedge Funds Hedge funds are doing very well currently. After having suffered substantial drawdowns in March 2020, they delivered what they promised to do. They were able to limit losses well, while profiting significantly from the subsequent upswing. This positioned hedge funds in a good light towards potential investors that previously stepped away from hedge funds or planned to, due to their frequent inability to generate excess returns in boom phases over the last few years. As the crisis was handled well by the industry, this perception significantly shifted. Preqin reported that the average return of hedge funds in 2020 was 16.69% and 12.73% as of June 2021, which are remarkable numbers for this environment. In particular, as some sectors and industries, such as fixed income, are struggling since Covid-19 emerged. Figures 9 to 14 provide a summary of our benchmark indices compared to other widely known benchmarks, based on fixed income, equity, tactical trading and fund of hedge funds strategies. Our two major benchmark indices, the SMC Single Manager Cross-Asset Index and the SMC Cross-Asset Index, are up 26.79% and 24.59% as of June 2021. Fixed Income strategies continue to struggle but managed to achieve solid one-digit returns over 2020 and 2021. The two most outstanding strategies in this asset class are European High Yield L/S Credit with a return of 13.37% in 2021 and Trade Finance Crypto with a YTD of 9.11%. The latter also has not experienced a single negative monthly return since its inception in January 2017. The performance of equity-based strategies in 2021 is 7%, while the individual strategies widely varied since 2020. On the one hand, Long/Short US Equity Consumer, TMT, Healthcare had a stellar return of 66% in 2020 but is stagnating in 2021 with a YTD of 0.13%. On the other hand, Equities US Activist Event Driven was up only 2.52% in 2020 but is up 30.68% in 2021 so far. Our SMC Tactical Trading Strategy Index is up 14% in 2021 and was up 62% in 2020. The global macro strategies deviate strongly from each other’s monthly returns. The Discretionary Global Macro strategy is up 26% in 2021, even though it suffered a loss of 18% in June 2021. In 2020, the strategy also achieved a return of 27%. The Systematic Global Macro strategy is up only 2% as of June 2021 but was up 97% in 2020. Unsurprisingly, the SMC Cryptocurrency Strategy Index had the best performance in both 2021 and 2020. In 2021, the index is up 101% and in 2020 340%. The crypto-based strategies range from Token Liquid with a YTD 2021 of 171% to Bitcoin that is up only 19.2% YTD 2021. Over the last two years, the Token strategy was the most successful one with being up 504% in 2020 and another 164% in 2021. Cryptocurrencies are further described in following section. Figure 9: SMC Hedge Fund Indices Performance in 2020 and YTD 2021, Source: Stone Mountain Capital Research, July 2021 Figure 10: SMC Fixed Income Index Performance in H1 2021, Source: Stone Mountain Capital Research, July 2021 Figure 11: SMC Equity Index Performance in H1 2021, Source: Stone Mountain Capital Research, July 2021 Figure 12: SMC Tactical Trading Index Performance in H1 2021, Source: Stone Mountain Capital Research, July 2021 Figure 13: SMC Cryptocurrency Index Performance in H1 2021, Source: Stone Mountain Capital Research, July 2021 Figure 14: SMC Fund of Hedge Funds Index Performance in H1 2021, Source: Stone Mountain Capital Research, July 2021 Based on the great recovery of the industry, hedge funds saw significant inflows following the pandemic. Since the peak of hedge funds’ AuM in H1 2018 of $3.5tn, it gradually declined and fell below $3tn in March 2020. But due to the aforementioned reasons, strong performance and interest from investors, the AuM of the industry surged to $3.96tn as of Q2 2021 according to HFR. Alongside this development, the number of newly launched funds exceeded the number of closed funds for three consecutive quarters after having the opposite situation for eight quarters. As HFR stated, in Q1 2021, 189 new hedge funds were launched, which is slightly more than the 175 in Q4 2020. However, the liquidations also increased to 159 in Q1 2021. Yet, this is still remarkably lower than the 304 in Q1 2020. Hedge funds saw inflows of $67bn as of May 2021 with May 2021 being itself a main contributor with $41bn. Major reasons for investors to invest in hedge funds include the high volatility of equities and commodities, commonly seen as a good environment for global macro funds and also their ability to manage downside risk due to increased volatility. Two other sources of interest stem from investors’ demands to gain exposure to digital assets and ESG, of which many investors seek hedge funds to enable these demands.   Cryptocurrencies / Blockchain Cryptocurrencies experienced a very eventful 2021 after 2020, in which cryptocurrencies went up with almost no down movements. At the beginning of 2021, Bitcoin (BTC) was worth $29,362 and Ethereum (ETH) was trading at $736. Both had a great 2020 with BTC returning 268% and ETH 480%. While in 2020, BTC surged and got more institutional assets, altcoin rose strongly with it. Even though their return was higher than BTC’s, it felt as altcoins generally were undervalued. This was largely backed on the notion that altcoins were trading significantly lower than BTC prior to the pandemic. After the initial drop in January 2021, BTC recovered fast and surged incredibly quickly to almost $60k. This time, altcoins following and were surging substantially more than BTC itself. During this time, there was barely a single day in which no cryptocurrency gained at least 100% in a day. This development was seen with cautiousness, as the cryptocurrency market is usually dominated by BTC (measured as total crypto market cap over BTC’s market cap). Especially during 2020, BTC dominance was typically around 80% with one notable exception in 2017 when the first widely recognized crypto bubble burst. At the time, BTC dominance was below 40%. At BTC’s peak it reached $64,863 on 14th April 2021, altcoins were still surging, while BTC would not reach a higher value anymore as of the time of writing. During this time, the hype around BTC exploded, both for retail investors but also institutional investors were increasingly more interested. Following this, there was an enormous surge in crypto-related hedge funds. After April 2021, BTC remained relatively stable between $50k and $60k, while ETH reached its peak of $4,362 on 12th May 2021 and alongside it, other altcoins further surged. Just before the most recent bubble burst, although a loss of 50% in the crypto environment was no rare occurrence, BTC dominance again dropped to below 50%. As of the time of writing, BTC is trading at $38,439 with a YTD of 31%, while ETH is currently worth $2,293 with a YTD of 212%. Figure 15 and 16 show the price development of BTC and ETH from January 2020 to July 2021. The market capitalization of cryptocurrency has also significantly increased, largely due to the surge of altcoins. At the beginning of the year, the total crypto market capitalization was $763bn and peaked at $2,512bn on 12th May 2021. Currently, the market capitalization is at $1.5tn. Overall, 2021 so far was very beneficial from cryptocurrency, despite the tremendous volatility, which was further exacerbated by frequent tweets of Elon Musk that most of the time triggered severe reactions. Yet, it is very likely that cryptocurrencies are here to stay with the increased institutional demand. According to a survey from Fidelity, seven out of ten institutional investors surveyed plan to buy digital assets in the future. Out of the surveyed institutions, 52% have a digital asset allocation. In the US, adoption has grown from 22% in 2019 to now 33% in 2021. European adoption is higher with 56% and Asia has even more with 71%. Major entry barriers are the price volatility, and the difficulty of valuing digital assets. However, this survey seems quite optimistic, in particular the adoption numbers. Presumably the study was conducted using institutions that are pro-crypto and are highly interested in the technology and its current applications. Figure 15: Bitcoin (BTC) Price from January 2020 to July 2021, Source: CoinMarketCap, July 2021 Figure 16: Ethereum (ETH) Price from January 2020 to July 2021, Source: CoinMarketCap, July 2021 Figure 17: Cryptocurrency Market Capitalization from January 2020 to July 2021, Source: CoinMarketCap, July 2021 The value locked in DeFi (decentralized Finance) has decreased, since cryptocurrencies have decreased. After surpassing $90bn locked into DeFi in May 2021, it fell to below $50bn, as shown in Figure 18. As of the time of writing, almost $60bn is locked into DeFi. Almost 60% of this capital is locked in lending, including Aave, InstaDApp and Compound, the three largest DeFi applications. Most of the remaining capital is allocated in Dexes (decentralized exchanges), such as Curve Finance, Uniswap and Sushiswap. Moreover, the applications are almost exclusively based on the Ethereum network with a few exceptions, such as Aave that is applicable to multiple chains. The evolution on DeFi is remarkable, as in 2019, the value locked in DeFi was less than $1bn, which rose to nearly $20bn at the end of 2020 and even further in 2021 with the help of surging cryptocurrencies. Figure 18: Total Value Locked (USD) in DeFi, Source: DeFi Pulse, July 2021 Private Equity / Venture Capital The private equity industry experienced a great financial year in 2020. After initial difficulties in March 2020, when the industry was forced to work remotely. This was special, as private equity tends to a lot in person meetings, which were not allowed anymore. Hence, the industry had to adjust and after the pandemic started, there were very few deals. This applies both to the private equity investments and investors investing in funds with the exception of very large and established names. This trend continued until Q3 2020, after which the industry deal activity increased again. Positive factors were certainly the outlook for vaccinations and the surge in equity markets. While between Q1 and Q3 2020 approximately $150bn were raised each quarter, this surged to around $230bn in Q4 2020 to Q2 2021 with Q2 2021 being the third highest number with almost $250bn as shown in Figure 19. The industry currently is in high demand, as its performance in 2020 was great, despite the pandemic. According to Preqin, the average return in 2020 was 23%, while venture capital did even better with 31.8%. These results surpass the average of the last three years with 18.5% for private equity as a whole and 20% for venture capital. Other notable benchmarks, such as the Cambridge Associates LLC US Venture Capital Index even returned 65.2% in 2020 and another 16.7% in Q1 2021. These results seem extremely strong given the difficulties of deal making this year and the relatively little capital that was deployed earlier in 2020. Thanks to strong fundraising in 2021, and the enormous amassed dry powder of last year of $1.7tn, the current dry powder only dropped to $1.5tn according to Aranca, despite the huge activity in the market currently. Figure 19: Global Quarterly Private Equity Fundraising from Q1 2016 to Q2 2021, Source: Preqin, July 2021 In particular in the US, the market is exploding. US private equity deal making is on a record-setting pace, as shown in Figure 20. There are several reasons for this development. Firstly, the economy is recovering relatively well and US equity markets surging extremely. Secondly, due to the pandemic, interest rates have dropped substantially, which enables cheap financing. Thirdly, the available dry powder is still almost at its record high, despite the abundance of deals in the last six months. Fourthly, the sell side is concerned about higher future capital gains taxes, which inclines sellers to sell earlier to avoid potentially higher future taxes. In 2021, deals worth $450bn were done in the US alone. If this trend continues, 2021 is set to be record-breaking year with regards to deal value and number of deals. Many of the extremely attractive sectors, such as software, cybersecurity and healthcare, are located in the US, which certainly contributes to the achieved numbers. With a public equity market that is booming, the number of exits in private equity has also surged. Figure 21 shows the number of exits and their values from 2011 to June 2021. The number of exits is not necessarily record-breaking but close to its previous record of 1,325 exits in 2018. But the value of those exits is staggering, as so far in 2021, those exits were worth $355bn and the previous record of 2018 was worth $420bn. The huge number of exits is certainly boosted by the equity market and the attractive multiples associated with it, as well as because of the boom of SPACs over the last six months. As on the global scale, the US sees more investments in private equity funds than in 2020, due to the current attractiveness of private equity and alternative assets in general. Mega funds with a size of more than $5bn have raised more than $100bn so far, but smaller funds are also raising capital quite successfully. This development has also caused some controversies around a potential bubble. One certainly needs to be cautious, if equity markets should fall substantially and one should have an eye on private equity returns in the future, as the competition among funds is fierce, due to the high dry powder. Furthermore, it is questionable how many companies face issues going forward when the governmental support stops. Figure 20: US PE Deal Activity from January 2011 to June 2021, Source: Pitchbook, July 2021 Figure 21: US PE Exits from January 2011 to July 2021, Source: Pitchbook, July 2021 Private equity greatly profited from the last year, but nowhere to the extent of venture capital, as Figure 22 shows. The total number of deals in 2021 is likely to be record-setting, albeit by a relatively small margin. But the deal value is likely to outpace any prior year by a wide margin, as in 2021, $150bn were committed, whereas the prior annual record of 2020 was $164bn. In comparison to private equity, 2020 was even better, both in terms of returns and volume and 2021 seems to be an even better year. Late-stage investments remain the key drivers for the deal value, which explains most of the good result, since there is more money available, but the opportunities stay fixed. Another important contributor is the surge in early-stage investments. Unsurprisingly, the main profiteers from the pandemic, B2B tech, B2C tech and healthcare are on track to set a new record in deal volume 2021 handily. Fintech deals in 2021 have already broken the previous year’s record by the mid of 2021. The situation of European venture capital looks very similar to the US, although European deal activity is relatively stronger, as 2021 has already broken its previous record from 2020 with a deal value of €47.1bn according to Figure 23. This is even clearer when considering the exit values shown in Figure 24. Figure 22: US VC Deal Activity from January 2011 to June 2021, Source: Pitchbook NVCA Venture Monitor, July 2021 Figure 23: European VC Deal Activity from January 2011 to June 2021, Source: Pitchbook, July 2021 Figure 24: European VC Exit Values in Billion Euros from January 2011 to June 2021, Source: Pitchbook, July 2021 Private Debt The current environment for private debt is mixed, as there were issues following the pandemic, but it remains an attractive investment. This is largely due to the low interest rates and will be further boosted once the government support will be discontinued. The initial phase of the pandemic reduced the necessity for company to borrow private debt once the government stepped to provide financing. This caused the industry to slow down. Yet, the industry recovered quickly and extended its AuM from $854bn in December 2019 to $887bn in June 2020, which increased further going into 2021, during which it broke the $1tn mark. A breakdown of the AuM assigned to different investment styles is shown in Figure 25. Current, the AuM of private debt is around $1.05tn. Similarly to private equity, funds had to adapt how to conduct business and initially found only very few deals, which lead to an increase in dry powder. At the end of 2020, the dry powder of the industry had increased by 19% from the previous year to $320bn. As of June 2021, the deployment of capital is still difficult, as the dry powder further rose to $380bn. This development strongly deviates from what private equity is experiencing. Fundraising in private debt has recovered quite well, certainly partially by the prosperous outlook of a low interest environment and investors seeking alternatives. Fundraising in Q2 2021 surpassed $40bn, which slightly higher than one year ago. Furthermore, most capital is committed to Europe, which accounts for $24bn of total fundraising in private debt. Compared to Q2 2020, there was a massive shift of the targeted strategies in private debt, as shown in Figure 26. Currently, there is huge interest in direct lending, almost double than one year ago. Further strategies of interest are mezzanine and special situations that soared also since last year. There is slightly less interest in distressed debt, although it is still the second most targeted strategy, which seemed very promising last year. The interest in venture debt and private debt fund of funds remains low with only 5% of searches targeting those strategies. The return of private debt in the last year was solid, as the average fund returned 6.6% compared to interest rates of bonds that barely return more than 0% depending on the country. Figure 25: Assets under Management (AuM) in Private Debt by Fund Type, Source: Preqin, July 2021 Figure 26: Fund Types Targeted by Private Debt Investors in the Coming 12 Months (Q2 2020 vs. Q2 2021), Source: Preqin, July 2021 Real Estate The AuM of real estate rose by 11% in 2020, despite the pandemic and the severe impact of many real estate sectors. As of the end of 2020, the AuM rose to $4.1tn, of which $3.4tn is attributable to non-listed real estate assets according to a study conducted by NCREIF, INREV and ANREV. Unlike the previous year, European focused strategies overtaking North America-based strategies. European strategies account for 39.1%, North American for 32.2% and Asia Pacific strategies for 17.9%. The remainder of the strategies are globally oriented. Despite the surprisingly high increase in AuM, the fundraising in real estate funds looks less promising as shown by Figure 27. In Q2 2021, only $19bn were raised, which is substantially lower than in either quarter in 2020. Compared to last year, hotels, mixed-use and the retail sector saw more deals. In particular deals in hotels substantially increased, which is vital for the heavily hit sector that did not soar unlike sectors such as logistics. Overall, most investment went to value added, opportunistic and debt strategies. According to the previously mentioned survey, as of the end of 2020, the total dry powder amassed to €195bn, 9.3% of global fund manager AuM, based on a sample of 108 respondents with a total AuM of €2.1tn. Figure 27: Global Quarterly Private Real Estate Fundraising from Q1 2016 to Q2 2021, Source: Preqin, July 2021 STONE MOUNTAIN CAPITAL Stone Mountain Capital is an advisory boutique established in 2012 and headquartered in London with offices Pfaeffikon in Switzerland, Dubai and Umm Al Quwain in United Arab Emirates. We are advising 30+ best in class single hedge fund and multi-strategy managers across equity, credit, and tactical trading (global macro, CTAs and volatility). In private assets, we advise 10+ sponsors and general partners across private equity, venture capital, private credit, real estate, capital relief trades (CRT) by structuring funding vehicles, rating advisory and private placements. As of 16th February 2021, Stone Mountain Capital has total alternative Assets under Advisory (AuA) of US$ 60.3 billion. 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