LSE Alternative Investments Conference 2008

The LSE Alternative Investments Conference 2008 (AIC) promises to be the largest student organised business conference in Europe this year. It aims to bring together selected students, highly regarded industry professionals and academics to meet and discuss poignant emerging topics in alternative investments.

The conference is organised by the LSEsu Private Equity Society in collaboration with the LSEsu Business Society and LSEsu Finance Society. The Title of the conference is to be 'Private Equity and Hedge Funds: Venturing into uncharted territories' and will be held on the 14th- 15th of January and, having expanded off campus, will be held in The New Connaught Rooms, Central London.

The conference will provide the opportunity for students and industry professionals to not only discuss emerging topics, but also learn more AbOUT the fundamentals and history of alternative investments. Central to the conference is The Blend of key note speakers, panel discussiona and workshops which encourages a great deal of interaction and exchange of IDeaS.

The quality of the speakers is one of the conferences greatest assets and this year notable speakers include:

• Lord Clive Hollick (Partner, KKR)
• David Blitzer (Senior MD, Blackstone)
• Arif Naqvi (CEO, Abraaj Capital)
• Marc Rowan (Co-Founder, Apollo)
• Alex Dibelius (Chairman, Goldman Sachs Germany)
• Stanley Fink (ex-CEO, Man Group plc)
• Ian Wace (Founder And Co-CEO, Marshall Wace

Major firm participation is vital to the cause and this year the line up includes prominent firms such as:

   Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co [KKR], 
   The Blackstone Group ,
   Abraaj Capital ,
   DLJ Merchant Banking ,
   UBS ,
   McKinsey and Company ,
   Man Group plc, 
   Sankaty Advisors (Bain Capital) ,
   Goldman Sach ,
   Drobny Global Advisors ,
   Marshall Wace ,
   Investcorp ,
   Texas Pacific Group ,
   KPMG AIU ,
   Liongate Capital Management and
   BVCA

With the high standard of orators and brightest selection of students the event promises to be a meeting of new financial elite and a chance to experience the future of alternative investments.

Speakers and Participants

Top industry professionals speeches make up a significant part of the event itself. This year speakers from the Private Equity Sector are to include David Blitzer (The Blackstone Group), Marc Rowan (Apollo Management), Lord Clive Hollick (KKR), Alex Dibelius (Goldman Sachs Germany) ,Arif Naqv (Abraaj Capital) and many more. Speakers on Hedge Funds include Randall Dillard (Liongate Capital), Gideon Berger (The Blackstone Group), and Alon Avner (Sankaty Advisors).These professionals are taking part in keynote speeches along with panel discussions and, by popular demand, an expanded series of workshops tailored to specific Hedge Fund strategies and recent Private Equity deals, all of which promise to give an insightful look into the alternative investment industry.

The conference has already drawn a top array of students from universities across Europe and also America. This year participating candidates will be coming from the London School of Economics, Tanaka Business School - Imperial College London, Oxford, Cambridge, London Business School, Yale University, Wharton University of Pennsylvania, Boccini University, Stockholm School of Economics, Insead, HEC Paris and Otto Beisheim School of Management. The students are selected from undergraduate, MBA and PHD level, many of which are likely to become leaders in the alternative investments industry.

Participants are carefully selected from their submitted applications. Last year the 200 participants were chosen from over 700 applicants and this year, with the anticipation of applications increasing, the amount of invitations are to be extended to 350.In order to apply visit www.lseaic.co.uk before the 1st of December.

Events

Over the two days participants will be engaged with workshops, interdisciplinary panels, and keynotes speeches by professionals and academics. The keynote speeches aim to allow top professionals to share their knowledge with interested participants while the panel discussions allow the audience to engage with professionals on a wide range of topics. Further to this, the interactive workshops will be designed in thematic modules tailored to specific Hedge Fund Strategies and recent Private Equity deals. There will be up to six modules per day and students will specifically choose modules and provided with reading material in advance.

Examples of some of the topics include:

Hedge Fund Modules

Distressed Strategies Module

1. Session 1: Overview over distressed cycle and universe of funds
2. Session 2: Endowment-investor in distressed Hedge Funds
3. Session 3: Distressed Hedge Fund that applies strategy

Credit Strategies Modules

1. Session 1: Theoretical introduction to Credit and CDS
2. Session 2: Moody’s/S&P/Fitch on Credit Risk
3. Session 3: Credit Hedge Fund

Private Equity Modules

Operational Value Creation in PE Module

1. Session 1: Finance/Business School Professor
2. Session 2: PE Practice Partner of consulting Firm
3. Session 3: Operational Partner of PE Firm

Private Equity Deal Case Study

1. Session 1: Business School Professor on deal case (HBS style)
2. Session 2: Management Consultants on deal case
3. Session 3: PE deal team on case