Alternative Investment Awards 2016

www.wealthandfinance-intl.com 7 Best for Mutual Funds – USA & Best Alternative Fixed Income Fund: Arrow Alternative Solutions Fund Arrow Investment Advisors, through its companies Arrow Funds and Arrow Shares, provides a range of investment solutions designed to help clients meet their financial goals. We interviewed CEO and Director of Investment Strategy Joseph Barrato, who provides us with a unique insight into the firm and its award winning funds. Company: Arrow Investment Advisors, LLC (Arrow Funds and ArrowShares) Name: Joseph Barrato, CEO and Director of Investment Strategy Email: [email protected] Web: www.arrowfunds.com and www.arrowshares.com Arrow Investment Advisors is dedicated to creating value for its share- holders by offering investments strategies that are portfolio diversifiers, and encouraging investors to allocate beyond traditional domestic equity and fixed income instruments. Joseph outlines the firm’s history and how it came to identify its innovative approach. “Ten years ago, my colleagues and I founded Arrow Funds with the intention of making institutional-style investments more accessible for financial advisors and their clients. We believe that every investor should have at their disposal the same types of tools and investment solutions that institutions have long-used to mitigate risk and enhance returns. “Today, those same principals are key to our firm, and as such we look to provide unique investment products that help investors build portfolios that can adapt to changing market conditions, and we place an emphasis on offering alternatives and non-traditional investments in the form of mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) to make this possible. During the last decade, the firm has grown from a single mutual fund provider to a diversified asset management firm offering a range of tactical and alternative oriented mutual funds and ETFs, including indexed and smart beta solutions, alternative fixed income, global equity, yield, managed futures and commodity strategies. “We have also developed several “smart beta” factor based investment strategies: diversified momentum, tactical global macro, global high yield, multi factor equity, long dated commodity, dynamic bond solution and a legendary high volatility futures strategy. “Our factor based strategies are typically cost effective, transparent and not affected by human emotion because they are based on quantitative models. We believe that Arrow has something to offer every portfolio, and that blending our investment strategies with traditional investments can help give investors the chance to create a portfolio that performs like endowments; securing higher returns at a lower risk.” The Arrow Alternative Solutions Fund (ASFNX), which has been rec- ognised by the Wealth & Finance Alternative Investment Awards as the ‘Best Alternative Fixed Income Fund’, provides a unique alternative to traditional bond funds. ASFNX seeks capital appreciation with an em- phasis on absolute returns, low volatility and low correlation to traditional equity and fixed income markets. From a performance perspective, the fund is ranked in the top 1% of its peer group for the past year. Joseph explains what he believes are the secrets to the fund’s success. “We believe the fund’s success is largely due to the dynamic approach its investment strategy takes toward trading high yield, government bonds and credit default instruments. Depending on proprietary indicators that are customized for each specific market segment, the fund is designed to provide long or flat High Yield exposure: long, flat or short Credit Default exposure; and long, flat or short Government Bond exposure. Each of these three underlying strategies has the ability to act independently from one another, adding an additional element of diversification to the fund. Performance has been strong, and we are seeing heightened interest in this alternative fixed income fund. In essence, ASFNX often acts like a traditional bond fund when fixed income markets are going well, but can become tactically hedged and even seek profits during downward market moves. “Two years ago this product was moved into the non-traditional bond category. Most non-traditional bond funds take on more credit risk with- out managing it effectively and subsequently may outperform in rising rate environments but underperform when the stock market underper- AI16033