Operational Due Diligence Trends and Best Practices

Investors today are facing a challenging road ahead of paltry forward-looking returns, higher volatility in asset prices, and low yields.  Against this backdrop, both institutional and private wealth allocators have been on a trend in increasing the complexity of their portfolios by moving into new alternative asset categories, angling into private market opportunities, and turning to strategic partners.

As such, the depth and nature of due diligence is evolving with an increasing focus on operational due diligence (ODD) that is more rigorous, intrusive, and consuming.  Far beyond a simple check-the-box exercise, effective ODD requires a look underneath the hood into various aspects of a manager’s business – bringing people, operations, technology, and governance into greater focus for investors.

• Gain understanding of the key components that comprise the ODD process.
• Appreciate and recognize how operational issues and concerns will vary across alternative strategies, and how ODD processes should be tailored based on where a given fund or strategy lies on the continuum.
• An examination into ESG Operational Due Diligence aspects and challenges from the lens of asset allocator practitioners investing in more complex asset categories.
• Identify specific issues that ODD teams consider “knock-out factors” in evaluation, selection, and ongoing oversight.

Our goal is to provide perspectives and approaches from ODD specialists that are of a notable quality and a distinguished skillset in this arena.  Our panel of industry experts will illuminate how operational issues and concerns will vary across alternative strategies, and how ODD processes should be tailored based on where a given fund or strategy lies on the continuum.  We will also examine ESG Operational Due Diligence aspects and challenges from the lens of asset allocator practitioners investing in more complex asset categories.

For both allocators assessing new asset categories to deploy capital, as well as asset managers that seek to attract and retain assets, this program aims to inform valuable ODD insights to best navigate the road ahead.

Asset allocator investment professionals and executives across private wealth, family offices, pensions and foundations who are seeking to augment ODD knowledge and best practices.  As well as COOs, CROs, and executives of asset managers and hedge funds from organizations who are evaluated on the basis of ODD.