This course is cross-listed with the Full-Time MBA Program.
COURSE NUMBER: EWMBA237-3
COURSE TITLE: Hedge Fund Strategies (optional continuation to Haas Investment Fund Management course in Fall 2014)
UNITS OF CREDIT: 3 units (1 unit
for Haas Investment Fund Management class fall semester)
INSTRUCTORS: Bill Rindfuss
E-MAIL ADDRESSES: rindfuss@haas.berkeley.edu; olesky@haas.berkeley.edu
COURSE WEB PAGE
LOCATION: http://bspace.berkeley.edu
MEETING
DAY(S)/TIME: Tuesdays, 6:00-9:30PM
PREREQUISITE(S): Core Finance, MBA/EWMBA233 Investments is strongly recommended to be taken concurrently.
CLASS FORMAT: Exercises, outside
training, team discussions, team meetings with instructors, and a team
presentation/pitch one afternoon (likely outside scheduled class time) in SF
Financial District.
REQUIRED READINGS: No set
readings; however, research by teams on areas contemplated by investment
strategies will be necessary, and readings in Investments course will be highly
valuable.
BASIS FOR FINAL
GRADE: Mixture of team performance in developing and testing investment
strategies, pitching to judges, execution of strategy, and quality of final
report.
ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:
The Hedge Fund Strategies Applied Innovation course in Spring 2014 combines broad exposure to the many types of hedge funds and their strategies, together with hands-on development of unique investment strategies within student teams. Content will include several guest speakers representing different sectors of the hedge fund industry, training on research and portfolio analytics platforms, and readings and lectures. Students will also learn about investing in hedge funds, including evaluation of fund performance. Concurrently, student teams will develop their own investment strategies by exploring unique expertise and insights – whether related to particular products, industries or geographies – that are resident within the teams, forming theses on changes and catalysts within those spaces, incorporating lessons from hedge fund speakers, and crafting investment strategies designed to capitalize on the teams’ insights. Students will test their strategies both through back-testing on analytics platforms and by pitching and receiving feedback on their strategies from investment practitioners as judges. See a story on the culmination of the semester in a final pitch competition in May 2013 (in an earlier form of the course): http://haasachieves.wordpress.com/2013/05/16/student-teams-compete-for-capital-in-pitching-to-the-stars/.
As an Applied Innovation course in the Spring, development of teamwork and leadership skills will be as much a targeted outcome of this course as development of a winning investment strategy. Throughout the course, students will frame problems and opportunities, experiment to learn, navigate uncertainty, and influence beyond authority. These experiences and skills will serve well the teams that are continuing to the Fall course.
Haas Investment Fund Management (1 unit, Fall Semester 2014)
Students continuing on to the Haas Investment Fund Management course in Fall 2014 will have applied and been selected in February from the Hedge Fund Strategies class. This course provides the opportunity for teams to proceed from strategy development into implementation phase, investing capital from a dedicated fund. Judges for the final pitch completion in May will allocate capital from the fund based on perceived promise of market-beating returns. These teams will then refine their strategies based on the judges’ feedback and instructors’ guidance, building out their portfolios in May and managing their strategies through the summer, generally coordinating via email and communicating via conference call. Regular team meetings and in-person coaching with instructors will resume in Fall semester, but based on schedules of individual teams rather than a set class time. Student teams will submit monthly performance reports through summer and Fall, and will produce a final report on investment performance in December.
BIOGRAPHICAL
SKETCHES:
Bill Rindfuss is a Professional Faculty
member and also Executive Director for Strategic Programs in the Haas Finance
Group. In addition to the Haas
Investment Fund course, he teaches, develops and brings
outside speakers for a series of applied
finance training classes in partnership with the Career Management Group and
MBA Finance Club. He represents the
Finance Group also with respect to MBA Admissions and Alumni Relations. He had formerly worked at JPMorgan and
predecessors in New York and San Francisco in several finance roles over twenty
years. He has an MBA in finance and management from Columbia Business School, and
a BA in mathematics and economics from Colgate.