COURSE NUMBER: MBA237.2
COURSE TITLE: Fixed Income
UNITS OF CREDIT: 2 units
INSTRUCTOR: Randy Wedding
E-MAIL ADDRESS: randolph_wedding@haas.berkeley.edu
CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATION: http://bspace.berkeley.edu
MEETING DAY(S)/TIME:
Wednesday, 4:00PM-6:00PM
PREREQUISITE(S): MBA203
CLASS FORMAT: Lectures, exercises. Case study
REQUIRED READINGS: Textbook
and course reader
BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE:
Midterm and final exams, exercises, class participation.
ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S
CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:
Fixed Income has long been
regarded as the boring stepchild in the family of investments compared to its
glamorous siblings, equity and alternatives. Fixed income professionals and
students of MBA 237 Fixed Income understand that, au contraire,
the party doesn’t get started without fixed income and the ability to leverage.
We will first survey the basics
of fixed income; terminology, security types, debt and money markets. We then
move into the valuation of cash flows, the term structure of interest rates and
the modeling of credit risk. Building on that foundation, we examine the
unexpectedly key role fixed income plays in the global financial system, other
asset classes and derivatives.
While the course is firmly
grounded in a quantitative and analytical approach, as a practitioner, I will
endeavor to place each topic in the relevant real world context. For example,
the discussion on leveraged finance covers not just the structure and credit
analysis of a typical high yield bond or bank loan but also the role these
vehicles would play in a leveraged buyout and the tug of war between investors
and the private equity sponsors over bond covenants and other important
structural features.
(N.B. This course is not intended to
be a preparation for the fixed income portion of the CFA exam, but there is
substantial overlap with that material.)
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
Randy Wedding is the Senior
Managing Director of Fixed Income in the Office of the Treasurer, Regents of
the University of California. In that role, he is responsible for the active
management of $26 billion of fixed income assets in pension, endowment and
defined contribution portfolios. Assets under management range from money
market securities, U.S. Treasuries and investment-grade corporates to high
yield and emerging market bonds. His prior experience includes several years in
portfolio management at Wells Fargo Bank and in the trading/sales of interest
rate derivatives and foreign currency options, for Morgan Stanley, Bear Stearns
and Bank of America. He earned his MBA in Finance from the University of
California, Berkeley, and BA in mathematics from the University of California,
San Diego.