Private Equity Roundtable
On March 13th, 2012 UCLA held its annual Private Equity Roundtable at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza. The event brought together over 100 individuals, to discuss the state of private equity today. The event began with a cocktail reception where students mingled with over 60 industry professionals coming from the top private equity shops in southern California. This reception was followed by a keynote discussion by Robert (Bob) Sinnott, President & CEO, Kayne Anderson Capital Partners, and moderated by Al Osborne, Senior Associate Dean of UCLA Anderson. Bob talked about how he entered into private equity and how he joined Kayne Anderson. He spoke about Kayne Anderson’s aversion to leverage in the oil and gas space and about how they like to compete where Wall Street isn’t looking for them – a strategy that has helped them succeed in earning great returns on their investments. Finally, he gave advice on how to choose a firm and advised that the right culture was one of the most important aspects of fit. The evening concluded with 3 roundtable sessions. Students got the opportunity to speak with industry professionals at intimate table settings for 15 minutes before moving on to the next table. This event is an annual event hosted by the Fink Center for Finance and Investments and the Investment Finance Association club at UCLA Anderson.
Companies in attendance included:
Ares Management |
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Aurora Capital Group |
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Babson Capital |
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Balmoral Advisors |
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Brentwood Associates |
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Caltius Equity Partners |
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Caltius Mezzanine |
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Creo Capital Partners |
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Energy Capital Partners |
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Freeman Spogli & Co. |
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General Atlantic |
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Kayne Anderson Capital |
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Leonard Green & Partners |
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Levine Leichtman Capital Partners |
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NewStone Capital |
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OpenGate Capital |
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Pasadena Capital |
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Pegasus Management |
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Shamrock Capital Advisors |
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Signature Capital Partners |
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Skyview Capital |
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The Carlyle Group |
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The Riverside Company |
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Vicente Capital |
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Vintage Capital Group |
Fink Center Stock Pitch Competition
On Friday, February 22nd, UCLA Fink Center held its 2nd annual Fink Center AIA Stock Pitch Competition that brought together 12 teams from the top MBA programs across the country. The teams included: UCLA Anderson School of Business, Chicago Booth School of Business, Columbia Business School, UVA Darden School of Business, Duke University Fuqua School of Business, UC Haas School of Business, Indiana University Kelly School of Business, Richard
Ivey School of Business, Michigan Ross School of Business, MIT Sloan School of Management, University of Rochester Simon Graduate School of Business, and USC Marshall School of Business. The full day competition was split into two rounds, a first round in the morning and a final round in the afternoon. During the morning rounds teams competed simultaneously in 4 rooms and pitched a long or short stock that they chose from a list of 20. Each room was judged by two industry professionals and the finals were judged by 5 industry professionals. Judges came from top finance firms including: PIMCO, TCW, DoubleLine, HighMark Capital, UCLA Investment Company, Research Affiliates, MAZE Investments, and Anderson. Teams were randomly assigned presentation time and room, and the best team from each of the 4 morning rooms was chosen to proceed to the finals. During lunch, as judges deliberated, students enjoyed a keynote speech by Joel Fried, President and Director of PRIMECAP Management Company. Joel spoke about his start in investment management and how he thought he was so lucky to be paid for what he loved to do. He spoke about market crises and the ups and downs that come with working in the business. Finally, he gave students advice on how to pick the best stocks and spoke about a stock - an LED light manufacturer and an industry sector - pharmaceuticals that he likes right now.
The finals included 4 teams (UCLA, Ivey, Columbia, and Haas) presenting their buy or sell recommendation on Tesla in front of the judges and a 50 person audience. Teams presented their analyses on the company for 20 minutes followed by 25 minutes for questioning by the judges. Each team did an excellent job, and the final awards were:
1st Place: UCLA Anderson - Team GreenRock - $5,000
2nd Place: Richard Ivey School of Business - Team IV Associates - $3,000
3rd Place: Columbia - Team Number Crunchers - $2,000
The event concluded with a reception celebration where winning teams were awarded their prize by the Fink Center.
The Financial Implications of Going Green
The Institute’s Corporate Partners Program, in collaboration with the UCLA Anderson School of Management’s Fink Center for Finance & Investments, hosted a symposium on the economics of environmental corporate practices on Jan. 16 at Korn Convocation Hall.
The link between financial success and social responsibility is of increasing significance—not simply to business executives, their employees, and clients, but also scholars and the general public. A company’s commitment to caring about the planet and its populace is a thought-provoking matter warranting review. Two campus units, who are authorities in this area, partnered to present a conference on finance and sustainability.
The symposium commenced with a report on labor productivity at green firms by environmental economist Magali Delmas, a faculty member with the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability and the Anderson School of Management. Her talk concentrated on the relationship between environmental and social strategies and financial performance. Professor Delmas highlighted her research on the implementation of environmental and social practices and the resulting increase in labor productivity. She provided real-world examples of this adoption in action, identifying Clif Bar, Adobe, Patagonia, and Timberland as organizations that have yielded positive outcomes as a result of their sustainability initiatives.
Professor Delmas shared the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development’s declaration that “Green initiatives are being held in high regard by firms’ employees, and as a result have become a key battleground in the war for talent.”
High-level senior executives from businesses with notable corporate responsibility records were part of a panel discussion. The featured speakers were David Hendler, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE), Eric Johnson, Vice President of Capital Projects, Roll Global, and John Lemmex, Chief Financial Officer, Bayer MaterialScience.
Hendler demonstrated how golden Hollywood goes “green.” Citing examples from SPE feature film and television properties, the presentation emphasized that “actions are greener than words.” SPE incorporates eco-conscious practices into how they produce their entertainment through defined carbon emission and zero waste goals, green production policies and packaging, and employee engagement.
Johnson began his talk by noting the company’s principle of “Doing well by doing good.” Roll Global is a private international corporation with a focus on healthy products. Their brands include Fiji Water and POM Wonderful. The talk chronicled Roll Global’s sustainable projects such as setting up solar panels and installing fuel cells at sites throughout California.
Bayer’s Lemmex gave an overview of his organization and discussed their sustainability strategies. Bayer is a global enterprise and inventor company with competencies in the fields of health care, agriculture, and high-tech materials. The company’s sustainable initiatives are divided into three categories: application innovation, responsible operations, and life-cycle stewardship. Their efforts include utilizing renewable energy sources and renovating buildings to meet LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards.
Bill Kurtz of Bloom Energy delivered the concluding keynote address that focused on the financial benefits of fuel cells. Bloom Energy is the leading manufacturer of solid oxide fuel cells. This technology generates clean, highly-efficient power onsite from a wide variety of fuel sources.
The event closed with a cocktail reception that facilitated further discussion on the topics addressed during the conference. With an eye on sustainability and the future, it is hoped these examples of corporate environmental policy, and the positive results they yield, embolden other corporate entities to make a concrete commitment to the planet.
A Discussion of Investment Principles with Ric Kayne & Howard Marks
Left: Ric Kayne Co-founder & Chairman Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors Right: Howard Marks Chairman & Founding Principal Oaktree Capital Management
Friday, December 7, 2012
Event vide can be seen at the following link:
http://capture.anderson.ucla.edu/Anderson/Play/1f67de91934247ed8a3a1e4c7af0f56e1d
Sponsored by: Westside Women in Finance
Agenda:
UCLA Anderson School of Management
4 p.m. – Networking Cocktail Reception
Executive Dining Room (EDR)
5 p.m. – Discussion
Korn Convocation Hall
Welcome: Professor Ivo Welch, Faculty Director of the Fink Center for Finance and Investments
Introduction: Lindsay Wilcox, Goldman Sachs & Co.
Discussion: Ric Kayne, Co-founder & Chairman Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, and Howard Marks, Chairman & Founding Principal Oaktree Capital Management
Discussion Moderated by:
Audrey Kinsman, Senior Managing Director, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, and Parnia Pajand, Senior Vice President, Oaktree Capital Management
RIC KAYNE Co-founder and Chairman, Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors
Mr. Kayne is the founder and chairman of Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, a Los Angeles-based manager of alternative investment strategies. Mr. Kayne founded Kayne Anderson in 1984, and has grown the firm through a disciplined, personal investment philosophy that emphasizes niche opportunities with attractive return expectations and lower risk characteristics. Prior to co-founding Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, Mr. Kayne founded Kayne Anderson Rudnick, a traditional investment management firm. Mr. Kayne grew that firm to over $10 billion in assets under management and sold it in 2001 to the Phoenix Companies. He began his career in the mid-1960s as an analyst with Loeb, Rhodes & Co. in New York and was a principal of Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., Inc., where he managed private accounts, a hedge fund and a portion of firm capital. Mr. Kayne is a trustee of and the former chairman of the Investment Committee of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) Foundation and is a trustee of and former co-chairman of the Investment Committee of the Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles. He earned a B.S. in Statistics from Stanford University in 1966 and an MBA from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1968.
HOWARD MARKS Chairman and Founding Principal, Oaktree Capital Management
Since the formation of Oaktree in 1995, Mr. Marks has been responsible for ensuring the firm’s adherence to its core investment philosophy, communicating closely with clients concerning products and strategies, and managing the firm. From 1985 until 1995, Mr. Marks led the groups at The TCW Group, Inc. that were responsible for investments in distressed debt, high yield bonds, and convertible securities. He was also chief investment officer for domestic fixed income at TCW. Previously, Mr. Marks was with Citicorp Investment Management for 16 years, where from 1978 to 1985 he was vice president and senior portfolio manager in charge of convertible and high yield securities. Between 1969 and 1978, he was an equity research analyst and, subsequently, Citicorp’s director of research. Mr. Marks holds a B.S.Ec. degree cum laude from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a major in Finance and an MBA in Accounting and Marketing from the Graduate School of Business of the University of Chicago, where he received the George Hay Brown Prize. He is a CFA® charterholder and a Chartered Investment Counselor.