With the challenging environment of “lower for longer” interest rates greatly impacting asset allocation and little expected upside remaining in most fixed income assets, where can investors turn for alternative sources of yield, stability and diversification? Niche alternative strategies uncorrelated to traditional equity or fixed income markets can help meet those investment objectives. With equity markets peaking, the time to address head-on is now. Please join us for an enlightening discussion on ways investors can achieve their investment objectives outside of traditional asset classes.

The world economy has taken a massive hit because of the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the globe. The human and economic toll is too big to measure right now. Even conservative asset classes like real estate have not been immune from this disruption. The unprecedented nature of the crisis has left a dark shadow over the asset class while leaving owners, tenants and lenders focused on collaborating or facing unnecessary longer term damage. Our Panelist will provide insights to explore how markets have reacted so far to the crisis and what we will see moving forward in Real Estate, Direct Lending & Private Debt.

We are all aware of the profound disruption that this pandemic is causing to our lives and our economy. It is the first pandemic we are facing in modern times and the level of uncertainty about how the situation will unfold is just unbearable. There are too many variables, and we really don't know how bad the economy will be impacted, and how long it will take for it to recover; we don't even know if and when this virus will leave our lives. What we do know for sure, though, is that, no matter what the central banks and governments do—no matter how much money they print and how they distribute it—an increasing number of people will delay and default on their loans, and more companies will declare bankruptcy, as it's already happening. There is no doubt that this is a grim environment for investors, especially for those who have exposure to the most affected sectors. However, the good news is that this disruption is also generating unprecedented opportunities that we are going to discuss with our guest panelists.

2 Interesting Data Points

PNC Financial Services Group said, it completed the sale of its stake in money manager Blackrock Inc. for some $14.4 billion. The Pittsburgh-based bank sold 31.6 million shares of common and preferred stock through a registered offering at $420 per share.

Blackstone COO, John Gray says distressed buying opportunities are still about a year away from full scale deployment of 44 billion dollars of dry powder while posting a 1st quarter write down of 30.3% on their distressed debt opportunities fund.