The Private Markets and Alternative Investments Certificate provides a comprehensive survey of critical terminology and investment concepts related to private markets. Understand the key features and differences between private equity, private credit, real estate and infrastructure, natural resources, commodities, and hedge funds.
Program Overview
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Course 1: Introduction to Private Markets and Alternative Investments
In this course, you will gain a "helicopter" view of all alternative investments. You will be able to compare key features of different alternative investments, such as risk, expected return, liquidity and correlation to traditional investments. You will understand how investing in alternatives changes the risk and return characteristics of a portfolio and why many investors allocate some of their portfolio to these investments.
Approx. 15 hours
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Course 2: Private Equity and Private Credit Investments
In this course you will gain fluency in key terminology used in private equity and private debt investments, and you’ll learn about their risk and return characteristics. You’ll explore how venture capital and LBO investments work, as well as the features of the many varieties of private debt investments. Finally you’ll calculate and interpret the key metrics for evaluating private equity and private debt fund performance.
Approx. 15 hours
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Course 3: Real Estate and Infrastructure Investments
In this course you will develop the practical skills to analyze and allocate funds into real estate and infrastructure investments within multi-asset portfolios. You will also explore how different investment methods, ownership structures, and risk mitigation strategies influence the benefits and challenges of these asset classes.
Approx. 15 hours
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Course 4: Commodities and Natural Resources Investments
Commodities and natural resources are among the most popular alternative investments. In this course, you will learn about the different types of commodities, what factors influence their prices and how they can help diversify portfolios. You will also learn about different vehicles for investing in commodities and be able to determine the ideal investment vehicle based on an investor's circumstances. In the latter half of the course, you will find out about natural resources. You will understand key differences of different types of natural resources investments, such as farmland and timberland as well as vehicles that can provide investors with access to them.
Approx. 15 hours
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Course 5: Hedge Fund Investments
In this course you will learn about the investment features and distinguishing characteristics of hedge fund vehicles and investments, including their typical risk-return profiles. You'll gain skills in identifying and classifying hedge fund strategies, including event-driven, relative value, opportunistic, and multi-manager strategies. Finally, you'll develop basic skills for conducting due diligence of hedge fund investments by going through a detailed case study that incorporates real-world considerations.
Approx. 15 hours
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Final Assessment
Complete the Private Markets and Alternative Investments Certificate with an online, unproctored assessment, made up of 60 multiple-choice questions. You’ll have two attempts to complete the assessment.
Duration: 90 minutes