Lazard Asset Management LLC - US - Institutional Services

In an environment where bonds are oversold, equities are cyclically expensive and a commodities bubble may loom, making money can be challenging for even the most skilled investor. On our next Lazard Insights call, Christian Frei, Portfolio Manager, will discuss recent trends in hedge funds, the opportunities hedge funds may access, and the difficulty in choosing the right managers to provide uncorrelated alpha and smart beta. A Q&A session will follow his presentation.

Featured Speaker:
Christian Frei, Portfolio Manager
Christian Frei is a Portfolio Manager on the Fund of Funds team and a member of the Fund of Hedge Funds Investment Committee. He began working in the investment field in 1984. Prior to joining Lazard in 2001, Christian was Chief Investment Officer of JPMorgan Investment Management’s hedge fund group, an emerging markets equity portfolio manager with JPMorgan Investment Management in New York, and Investment head of affiliates in Singapore, India and Korea. He has a BSc (Eng) in Biochemical Engineering from University College, London.

130/30: A New Paradigm for Alpha

Thursday, May 15, 4:00 pm EDT

Investment opportunities in 130/30 strategies are becoming increasingly available. These strategies utilize modest shorting to enhance the efficiency of a portfolio, but managers are creating and de-ploying them in many different ways. On our next Lazard Insights call, Max Kaufmann, Senior VicePresident and Portfolio Manager, will address several key questions about 130/30 strategies, such as: What are the differences among the various styles of strategies? What are the main benefits they can deliver? What are the theoretical underpinnings that allow 130/30 strategies to achieve these benefits? He will also summarize the positive and negative aspects of four main styles of 130/30 strategies. A Q&A session will follow his presentation.

Featured Speaker:
Max Kaufmann, Senior Vice President, Portfolio Manager
Maximilian G. Kaufmann is a Portfolio Manager responsible for developing and managing Lazard’s quantitative equity strategies platform. He began working in the investment field in 1994. Prior to joining Lazard in 2007, Max was a portfolio manager at Panagora Asset Management where he was responsible for quantitative global and non-U.S. large-cap equity investments. Prior to joining Panagora, he worked for Putnam Investments’ structured equity team, Citigroup Asset Management, and JPMorgan. Max has an MA in Statistics from Columbia University and a BA from the State University of New York at Binghamton.

Global Currencies: The Last Uncorrelated Asset Class?

Wednesday, April 16, 4:00 pm EDT

While there are several potential sources of correlation in the global currencies asset class, including economic and trade linkages, financial flows and market relations, and central bank policy connections, emerging markets exhibit different behavior compared to most of the other "contagious" asset classes. For example, correlations among emerging markets currencies tend not to spike and remain at elevated levels for long periods of time. Please join us on the next Lazard Insights Call, when Ardra Belitz, Director and Portfolio Manager, will review investor differentiation in the varied local currency emerging markets, the degree to which foreign and/or leveraged global capital flow is present, and different directionality drivers. She will also discuss how the role of central banks differs among countries.

Featured Speaker:
Ardra Belitz, Director, Portfolio Manager
Ardra Belitz is a Director of Lazard Asset Management LLC and a Portfolio Manager specializing in emerging market currency and debt. She has been a member of the Emerging Income management team since 1998. Ardra began working in the investment industry in 1994. Prior to joining Lazard in 1996, she worked at Bankers Trust Company. Ardra has her BA in Economics from Brandeis University, from which she graduated Phi Beta Kappa.

How Stable are Consumer Staples?
Assessing the Impact of Inflation, Slowing Consumer Spending and Today's Global Economy

Tuesday, March 18, 4:00 pm EST

As the economic outlook continues to be uncertain, many investors are considering investments in sectors traditionally thought of as more defensive in nature, such as consumer staples. Nina will review the wide variety of opportunities within the broad consumer staples sector and discuss the different challenges many companies and industries are facing in terms of growth opportunities and inflationary pressures. She will also provide her perspective on premiumization vs. commoditization of the consumer staples sector.

Featured Speaker:
Nina M. Saglimbeni, Managing Director, Research Analyst
Nina M. Saglimbeni is a Research Analyst on the Global Research Platform, covering the Consumer sector. She began working in the investment field in 1979. Prior to joining Lazard in 1990, Nina was with Kleinwort Benson Securities, Inc and Quilter Goodison & Co. She has an MA and BA degree from Oxford University and a BS from Bombay University.

The Outlook for Financials
Subprime: Is Commercial Real Estate the Next Shoe to Drop?

Tuesday, February 12, 4:00 pm EST

Ron will review recent trends and discuss current conditions in credit markets, providing an overview on the risks and causes for optimism in the present environment as well as analyzing some possible scenarios for 2008 and beyond. A Q&A session will follow his presentation.

Featured Speaker:
Ronald Temple, Managing Director
Mr. Temple is a Co-Director of Research and a Research Analyst on the Global Research Platform. Prior to joining Lazard in 2001, Ron held positions with Deutsche Asset Management and Deutsche Bank Americas in New York, Deutsche Bank Asia/Pacific in Singapore, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell in London, Bank of America NT & SA in San Francisco, and Fleet Financial Group in Boston. He began working in the investment field in 1991. Ron received a MPP from Harvard University and a BA in Economics & Public Policy from Duke University.

“2008 - Sorting Through the Capital Market Opportunity Set”

Thursday, January 17, 4:00 pm EST

David will provide a broad overview and 2008 outlook for the global economy and capital market environment, covering global equity and bond markets as well as viewpoints on a series of non-traditional investment themes and ideas.

Featured Speaker:
David R. Cleary, CFA, Managing Director, Portfolio Manager
David R. Cleary is a Managing Director of Lazard and is currently responsible for the management of the Lazard Capital Allocator Series (“LCAS”). The LCAS is a global tactical asset allocation investment product, which implements portfolio themes primarily through index and index-like investment vehicles, such as ETFs. David works on asset allocation modeling and total portfolio risk management and he sits on the firm’s Investment Advisory Board. Previously, he spent nine years as a Fixed Income Senior Portfolio Manager at Lazard with a focus on risk control, sector allocation and total portfolio management. David began working in the investment field in 1987. Prior to joining Lazard in 1994, David worked as a Portfolio Manager with Union Bank of Switzerland and an Assistant Treasurer with IBJ Schroeder, both primarily in fixed income asset management. He has a BS from Cornell University. David is a member of the New York Society of Security Analysts (NYSSA) as well as the CFA Institute.

“Observations on Global Oil Markets - How Did We Get to $90 Oil?”

Tuesday, December 11, 4:00 pm EST

Wednesday, October 24, 4p.m. EST

What are the fundamental issues underlying current oil prices? Are the key drivers of energy prices speculation, currency fluctuations, geopolitical issues or a combination of all of these factors? Peter will address these questions by putting historical events in the energy markets in context, from the early 1970s to today, then touch on how that may be impactful for different industry groups.

Featured Speaker:
Peter Hunsberger, Managing Director, Research Analyst
Peter is a Research Analyst on the Global Research Platform, covering the Power sector. He began working in the investment field in 1989. Prior to joining Lazard in 1991, Peter served as Director of Research with John S. Herold, Inc. and was also previously with Hunt Oil Company. He has an MBA from Houston Baptist University and a BA from Middlebury College.

“Understanding the Challenges of Fundamental Analysis in Emerging Markets”