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Bitcoin is the best-known cryptocurrency which currently holds the largest market capitalisation and is regarded as a standard example of a cryptocurrency. There is, however, no consensus as to the nature of the Bitcoin. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether Bitcoin represents a new asset class by building on prior research.

The prior literature on asset classes is explored in detail and then applied to the Bitcoin. Four key criteria of asset classes are discussed, namely, investability, politico-economic profile, correlation of returns and risk-reward profile. Statistical techniques are used to inform the conclusions for the third and fourth criteria.

This research finds that the Bitcoin represents a distinct alternative investment and asset class. There are significant opportunities for investment. The politico-economic profile of the decentralised and consensus-based Bitcoin is dissimilar to other asset classes. The Bitcoin shares little or no correlation with other asset classes. Using Sharpe Ratios, it is shown that the Bitcoin provides risk-adjusted returns over and above most asset classes.

The aim of this research is to present a normative exploration into the asset class nature of the Bitcoin and, as a result, the aim is not to create positivist generalisable conclusions. This paper does not address cryptocurrencies, other than Bitcoin and does not constitute a detailed manual on modern portfolio theory.

This research adds to finance paradigm research on the Bitcoin by including a developing country perspective on Bitcoin as an asset class as prior studies have concentrated on developed country settings. Further, this research introduces recent economic data (2014 to 2017) in the form of daily observations to enhance prior understanding. It is important to understand if the Bitcoin represents an alternative investment and new asset class as this may affect investment decisions.

The purpose of this paper is to test if relative asset purchase values (RAPVs) differ between single- and dual-class purchasers (not) differentiated by family ownership for Canadian firms.

The paper uses multivariate regressions and 2SLS estimations of simultaneous equations models with both continuous and dichotomous endogenous variables. Data on share structures and family involvements are hand collected.

RAPVs for dual-class purchasers are significantly different (larger) than their single-class counterparts only for family-controlled samples. Larger RAPVs for dual-class purchases are associated with higher degrees of dual-class structures, higher family ownerships and with boards with no more than one family member.

RAPV is important because of its common use as a primary determinant of the wealth effects of M&As, its use as an exchange-rate proxy in two-stage regressions used to determine the amount of abnormal returns attributable to short selling activity around M&A announcements, and its use as a channel for conveying information about deal complexity, seller’s bargaining power, additional monitoring benefits from purchase and/or greater challenges in incorporating a purchase into existing assets. Larger sample size would facilitate more differentiated examinations.

Findings imply that dual-class share structures assist family shareholders in elevating their control over corporate decisions involving asset purchases.

This paper furthers the authors’ knowledge about the effects of agency issues on corporate decisions.

It provides an extension and robustness test of the US evidence for asset purchases by providing evidence for Canada given its greater preponderance of families as the ultimate controlling shareholders, restricted or subordinated voting shares issued and pyramidal structures.

To achieve long‐term performance, superannuation balanced funds typically invest in a range of defined asset classes based on a strategic asset allocation approach. In an Australian context, the purpose of this paper is to examine the performance of the balanced investment option against eight different investment strategies and how the property allocation changes with different asset allocation models.

The analysis is based on ex post data covering 17 years (1995 to 2011). The selected passive and active allocation models are set within the modern portfolio theory framework utilising Australian ten year bonds as the risk free rate. The Sharpe ratio is used as the key risk‐adjusted return performance measure.

Property provided the second highest risk adjusted return profile behind the alternative asset class. The different asset allocation models perform as well as the conventional strategic approach and in many instances property allocation is found to be under‐allocated on a return optimisation basis. Depending on the asset allocation model, property when included within a multi‐asset portfolio improves the portfolio risk‐adjusted return profile by 2 per cent to 28 per cent.

For an Australian superannuation balanced fund, the empirical results show that there is scope to increase the property allocation level from current 10 per cent to 23 per cent. This knowledge will be beneficial for funds currently re‐profiling investment portfolios to achieve stable risk‐adjusted returns.

The research contributes to both practical and academic fields, as it offers a methodological approach on how allocation to property assets can be improved using a series of passive and active asset allocation strategies.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of the crisis on the pricing of asset quality attributes. This paper uses sales transaction data to examine whether flight from risk phenomena took place in the US office market during the financial crisis of 2007-2009.

Hedonic regression procedures are used to test the hypothesis that the spread between the pricing of low-quality and high-quality characteristics increased during the crisis period compared to the pre-crisis period.

The results of the hedonic regression models suggest that the price spread between Class A and other properties grew significantly during the downturn.

Our results are consistent with the hypothesis of an increased price spread following a market downturn between Class A and non-Class A offices. The evidence suggests that the relationships between the returns on Class A and non-Class A assets changed during the period of market stress or crisis.

These findings have implications for real estate portfolio construction. If regime switches can be predicted and/or responded to rapidly, portfolios may be rebalanced. In crisis periods, portfolios might be reweighted towards Class A properties and in positive market periods, the reweighting would be towards non-Class A assets.

The global financial crisis has demonstrated that real estate markets play a crucial role in modern economies and that negative developments in these markets have the potential to spillover and create contagion for the larger economy, thereby affecting jobs, incomes and ultimately people’s livelihoods.

This is one of the first studies that address the flight to quality phenomenon in commercial real estate markets during periods of financial crisis and market turmoil.

The asset allocation decision for a pension portfolio needs to consider several, sometimes conflicting, aspects. Most pension managers use models and processes that are developed for the traditional asset classes for analyzing this problem. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how real estate is included in this process, for what purpose and how the real estate portfolio is constructed.

Seven individuals responsible for the asset allocation process were interviewed, and their responses were analyzed with regards to organizational options and their real estate strategy.

It was found that real estate is held for three different purposes, risk diversification, inflation hedging/liability matching and return enhancement and that the allocation has increased over time. The allocation strategy has evolved at least in part in conjuncture with the organizational structure set in place to overcome real estate market frictions.

The interviews were geographically limited to pension funds domiciled in Sweden and Finland.

It is concluded that the organizational capabilities of the pension fund of handling real estate is an important consideration for the ensuing real estate portfolio.

The originality of this paper lies in that it is based on interviews with individuals who are responsible for the asset allocation decision at large pension funds. The findings of the paper identify areas of interest for future research.

Existing studies provide conflicting results regarding whether real estate investment trusts (REITs) effectively optimize and diversify institutional portfolios. Based on the style analysis of Sharpe, we extend Liang and McIntosh’s study with a more complete set of asset classes over a longer sample period. We provide additional evidence suggesting that practicing analysts should include REITs as an asset class to optimize their portfolios. Specifically, our results show that the price behavior of REITs is unique and cannot be satisfactorily duplicated by combining equity, fixed‐income securities, and unsecuritized real estate. The time series of the styles on REITs indicates that it is difficult to ex ante produce returns on REITs without diversifying into REITs.

Property is a key investment asset class that offers considerable benefits in a mixed-asset portfolio. Previous studies have concluded that property allocation should be within the 10-30 per cent range. However, there seems to be wide variation in theory and practice. Historical Australian superannuation data shows that the level of allocation to property asset class in institutional portfolios has remained constant in recent decades, restricted at 10 per cent or lower. This is seen by many in the property profession as a subjective measure and needs further investigation. The purpose of this paper is to compare the performance of the AU$431 billion industry superannuation funds’ strategic balanced portfolio against ten different passive and active investment strategies.

The analysis used 20 years (1995-2015) of quarterly data covering seven benchmark asset classes, namely: Australian equities, international equities, Australian fixed income, international fixed income, property, cash and alternatives. The 11 different asset allocation models are constructed within the modern portfolio theory framework utilising Australian ten-year bonds as the risk free rate. The Sharpe ratio is used as the key risk-adjusted return performance measure.

The ten different asset allocation models perform as well as the industry fund strategic approach. The empirical results show that there is scope to increase the property allocation level from its current 10-23 per cent. Upon excluding unconstrained strategies, the recommended allocation to property for industry funds is 19 per cent (12 per cent direct and 7 per cent listed). This high allocation is backed by improved risk-adjusted return performance.

The constrained optimal, tactical and dynamic models are limited to asset weight, no short selling and turnover parameters. Other institutional constraints that can be added to the portfolio optimisation problem include transaction costs, taxation, liquidity and tracking error constraints.

The 11 different asset allocation models developed to evaluate the property allocation component in industry superannuation funds portfolio will attract fund managers to explore alternative strategies (passive and active) where risk-adjusted returns can be improved, compared to the common strategic approach with increased allocation to property assets.

The research presents a unique perspective of investigating the optimal allocation to property assets within the context of active investment strategies, such as tactical and dynamic models, whereas previous studies have focused mainly on passive investment strategies. The investigation of these models effectively contributes to the transfer of broader finance and investment market theories and practice to the property discipline.

Industrial feudalism is a socio-economic formation of advanced capitalist countries in which society becomes stratified into closed, hierarchically-defined social groups. In the writings of Ludwik Krzywicki and Oskar Lange, industrial feudalism is associated with the dominance of monopoly finance capital. The chapter extends this analysis of twenty-first century capitalism in which social groups are differentiated by the kind of property that they own and hence the kind of credit to which they have access to prevent becoming déclassé. However asset inflation then inhibits upward social mobility, confining households to their inherited social class. This inhibits labour mobility. But the availability of credit for the propertied classes also defines attitudes towards state welfare provision.

As the prolonged effect of the COVID-19 pandemic has materially impacted investment returns significantly, it is more crucial than ever for institutional investors to redefine their property portfolios using assets with better investment management potential and meaningful diversification benefits. The “alternative asset revolution” is gaining traction in the property investment space internationally among institutional investors due to the shifting investment attitudes towards the alternative property sectors. Australia's $205bn healthcare property sector is at the forefront of this revolution due to its societal significance, as well as its attractive investment qualities. This paper investigates the institutional investor management of the Australian healthcare property sector via both the direct and listed channels and empirically analyses its investment attributes.

Using the unique Morgan Stanley Capital International/Property Council of Australia quarterly data set for Australian direct healthcare property over 2006–2020, the risk-adjusted performance and portfolio diversification potential direct healthcare property and listed healthcare were assessed. A constrained mean-variance portfolio optimisation framework was used to develop a six-asset portfolio scenario to analyse the portfolio added-value benefits of both direct healthcare property and listed healthcare in a mixed-asset investment strategy. A similar set of analysis was performed using the post-global financial crisis (GFC) quarterly time series of 2009–2020 to investigate the healthcare asset class' performance dynamics in the post-GFC investment timeframe.

The results indicate that direct healthcare property and listed healthcare offer two key advantages for institutional investors in managing their property portfolios: (1) a stable yet superior risk-adjusted performance and (2) significant portfolio diversification potential in managing their property portfolios. Importantly, both direct healthcare property and listed healthcare provided valuable contributions in strengthening an investment portfolio's performance. The post-GFC sub-period analysis revealed a consistent conclusion regarding the healthcare asset class's performance attributes.

This is the first research that provides an independent empirical examination of the strategic importance of Australian healthcare property as a maturing alternative property sector that can serve both investment and environmental, social and governance goals of investors. This research presents a positive investment prognosis for the Australian healthcare property sector to achieve its institutionalised status as a mainstream asset class of the future.

The purpose of the present study is to contribute to the existing literature by examining the nexus and the connectedness between classes S&P Green Bond Index, S&P GSCI Crude Oil Index, S&P GSCI Gold, MSCI Emerging Markets Index, MSCI World Index and Bitcoin, during the pre-and post-Covid period beginning from August 2011 to July 2021 (10 years).

The study employs time-varying parameter vector autoregression and Quantile regression methods to understand the impact of events on traditional and upcoming asset classes. To further understand the connectedness of assets under consideration, the study used Geo-Political Risk Index (GPR) and Global Economic Policy and Uncertainty index (GPEU).

Findings show that these markets are strongly linked, which will only expand in the post-pandemic future. Before the pandemic, the MSCI World and Emerging Markets indices contributed the most shocks to the remaining market variables. Green bond index shows a greater correlation and shock transmission with gold. Bitcoin can no longer be used as a good hedging instrument, validating the fact that the 21st-century technology assets. The results further opine that under extreme economic consequences with high GPR and GPEU, even gold cannot be considered a safe investment asset.

Financial markets and the players who administer and communicate their investment logics are heavily reliant on conventional asset classes such as oil, gas, coal, nuclear and allied groupings, but these emerging asset classes are attempting to diversify.