Behind the Man Group’s annual Oxford event for institutional investors

The tenth iteration of the Man Alternative Investment Symposium kicks off on Tuesday evening with a drinks reception and private viewing at Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum. He will then dive into two days of speakers including BBC broadcaster Tom Holland, nature walks and more. It’s an example of how the world’s biggest asset managers are increasingly intertwined with their biggest supporters.

“It’s a look at how we interact with them,” said Steven Desmyter, chairman of the $178 billion Man Group, which is leading event planning for the conference. The conference comes at a strong point for Man: The company’s assets and revenue have grown this year, and profits in the first half of the year nearly doubled those in 2023, according to a mid-year earnings report.

The expectation now, he said, is that their large, complex institutional clients want fewer but deeper relationships with external fund managers. This conference is a key part of how Man builds them with their customers.

“The engagement goes beyond just what’s in our portfolios.”

The numbers

The gathering might seem odd compared to productions like Milken or Davos, but the manager focused on quality rather than quantity.

Attendance is limited — no more than 50 to 60 people from the firm’s investor base attend each year, Desmyter said — but it will represent about $25 trillion in institutional capital. The man also has around 60 people coming, some flying in to hear the speakers – and their customers.

“We have the advantage of participating as well,” he said, explaining that portfolio managers rubbing heads with sovereign wealth is beneficial for each side.

While Desmyter is proud of the agenda he puts together, he knows many allocators also come to hear from their peers.

“Our investors stretch from Hawaii to Sydney, so it’s truly a global group,” he said.

Although the firm did not hold the conference in 2020, it only missed one year due to the pandemic. He believes you can’t replace the connection you get in person over a long period of time.

“There’s a limit to video chats. I find that if we don’t have a set-up where there’s a fixed agenda, that’s when we can think outside the box a little bit more,” he said.

Academics, geeks and rising stars

The speakers over two days are about half Man employees and half external guests. The firm is looking for “stars in their field”, not necessarily the biggest names.

“We don’t mind the geek, we’re geeks ourselves,” Desmyter said.

Every year, there’s a loose theme — past ones have been “evidence” and “data” — and 2024 is no different. “Decisions” will be the focus of this year’s confab, with external speakers including the aforementioned BBC historian Holland, Morgan Stanley EMEA chief Clare Woodman, political scientist John Curtice and the co-founders of neuro11, a neuroscience-focused sports training firm.

The list of past speakers has plenty of academics and authors, but also plenty of big names in finance and business, such as JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and Mike Lynch, the British billionaire founder of technology who died in August when his superyacht sank off Italy’s Sicilian coast.

The firm balances external speakers – from finance and other disciplines – with a range of Man executives and internal rising stars working on something related to the overall theme.

For example, technology portfolio manager Sumant Wahi is speaking this year on ‘new perspectives’, while Vinayak Kumar, associate quantitative researcher for Man Numeric, is giving a presentation entitled ‘Rise of the machines: learning to decide’.

“Innovative ideas come from all parts of the company,” Desmyter said, and while many executives speak, the firm has historically tried to find people at all levels to pitch.

Bookcase stacks, not seafood towers

Compared to the average investment conference, it’s much more academic, which is fitting given Man’s long-standing relationship with Oxford, where the firm created the Oxford Man Institute in 2007 to research quantum finance.

“The only logistical challenge is that Oxford is not a conference venue, it’s a university town,” said Desmyter.

Although the firm intentionally organizes the conference before the students return, there may still be problems finding a seat. He has been to Rhodes House and Union House before and this year will be the first time he will be on the grounds of Trinity College.

Oxford offers a lot of advantages for the management of the company to know the decision makers in these companies. The relative remoteness – compared to New York, London or Dubai – means people can’t pop off to another meeting or a quick dinner.

All guests have two dinners together, Desmyter said, and an optional walking tour around the grounds is usually well attended.

“It’s serene, not bright,” Desmyter said.

As the conference became more popular with the allocator group, Desmyter said he had to make the tough call to turn down additional representatives from various organizations to keep the gathering at the appropriate size.

“This is not Vegas,” he said.

The main goal, above all, for Man is to know his customers.

“It’s very important to me that we’re not trying to push the product,” Desmyter said.