Imperial Fund Asset Management Team at iConnections Global Alts New York 2025

The Imperial Fund Asset Management team recently attended Iconnections Global Alts New York 2025 — a premier industry conference where investors, servicers, and fund managers came together to share insights and discuss market outlooks for 2025.

Cliff Asness highlighted that financial markets have experienced increasingly sharp and unpredictable swings over the years. He emphasized the importance of building portfolios that can withstand major macroeconomic shocks — like the dot-com bubble burst in the early 2000s — to avoid significant losses. Asness also noted that alternative investment products may see growing interest from retail investors, which could broaden access and impact market dynamics.

A panel featuring James Smith, Mario Therrien, Darren S. Wolf, and Derek Drummond discussed the current hedge fund landscape amid economic uncertainty and rising interest rates. The panel agreed that hedge funds are well-positioned to outperform traditional markets in this environment by capitalizing on market dispersion and volatility. They also discussed the “top-heavy” distribution of assets, with many top hedge fund managers holding large cash reserves, which presents opportunities for other managers to generate above-market returns by deploying capital more aggressively or innovatively.

Bruce Richards from Marathon spoke about the evolving opportunities within private credit markets. He acknowledged that economic growth may slow in the latter half of the year but expressed confidence in the potential for strong lending returns. Richards pointed out that top private credit managers are delivering attractive risk-adjusted returns, making this asset class particularly appealing compared to others in today’s market.

Beyond the substantive sessions, the opportunity to engage with industry peers and cultivate professional relationships was highly valued by our team. We look forward to continued participation in such forums that foster knowledge exchange and collaboration.