What are Alternative Investments? Discover your portfolio’s potential Alternative strategies & assets Insights Capital at risk. The value of investments and the income from them can fall as well as rise and are not guaranteed. Investors may not get back the amount originally invested. Alternative assets Alternative assets include real estate, infrastructure and private equity. Unlike traditional assets – stocks and bonds – these investments are not traded on public markets. Alternative strategies Alternative investment strategies may invest in traditional stocks and bonds, but they use non-traditional strategies, such as those used by hedge funds. Traditional vs. Alternative Investments What are the differences between alternative and traditional investments? Risk. The Strategy’s investments may have low liquidity which often causes the value of these investments to be less predictable. In extreme cases, the Strategy may not be able to realise the investment at the latest market price or at a price considered fair. What are the different types of alternative investments? Alternative strategies Alternative assets Liquid Alternatives The first thing to note about the range of investments on offer here is that they are liquid alternatives. Unlike private equity, for example, investors can access these strategies via more liquid investment vehicles, such as mutual funds, UCITS (undertakings for investment in transferable securitiesand Cayman (also a collective investment scheme, but one that is domiciled offshore), and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which are funds that are traded on stock exchanges. And they usually invest in traditional assets, such as stocks, bonds and cash. Hedge fund strategies Non-traditional strategies that can invest in traditional assets are usually known as hedge funds. Hedge funds use their less-regulated nature to generate very different investment opportunities to those of traditional equity and bond funds. Rather than just investing in securities they think will make positive returns, hedge fund managers exploit inefficiencies in markets to make returns. In the long term, this can provide you with diversification, and in the short term, you can take advantage of opportunities across market cycles and asset classes as they present themselves. Risk. Diversification and asset allocation may not fully protect you from market risk. Long/short Event driven Relative value Global macro Risk premia ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENTS Discover your portfolio’s potential Learn More Insights Liquid & Illiquid offering BlackRock is Tomorrow’s Alternatives Platform Our US$239 billion platform is designed to deliver outperformance with true partnership across a range of investments in: real estate, infrastructure, private equity, credit, hedge funds and alternative strategies. We continue to innovate, leveraging our technology, our scale and our fiduciary model to better serve our clients. Source: BlackRock, May 2021 Access We strive to bring you best-in-class ideas for your portfolios drawing upon our global footprint and execution capabilities. Greater transparency Helping you build better portfolios with market-leading technology and industry-leading insights. An integrated view We provide you with a whole portfolio view so you have a deeper understanding of how alternatives impact the rest of your portfolio. A new standard of alignment We work with investors as a true partner and fiduciary by understanding your needs and challenges and delivering tailored solutions. Explore more Insights Insights As a global investment manager and fiduciary to our clients, our purpose at BlackRock is to help everyone experience financial well-being. Since 1999, we've been a leading provider of financial technology, and our clients turn to us for the solutions they need when planning for their most important goals. CORPORATE Careers Newsroom Investor relations LEGAL Terms & conditions Privacy policy Business continuity Modern Slavery Statement Best Ex policy and reports s172 and Corporate Governance Statements © 2021 BlackRock, Inc. All rights reserved. MKTGH0621E/S-1672091-5/5