LSE Alternative Investment Conference 2018
There are many ways of getting familiarized with your industry of choice: workshops, company presentations, networking events, and, of course, conferences. This academic year, IEU students attended several renowned conferences such as LSE AIBC in Hong Kong, WHU Campus for Finance in Koblenz, and LSE AIC in London, which took place from January 22nd to 23rd 2018.
LSE’s Alternative Investments Conference is the biggest student led conference, dedicated to Private Equity, Venture Capital, Hedge and Pension Funds Industry. Each year it gathers around 340 delegates, who are selected on competitive basis out of approximately 7,400 applicants. This makes us even more proud to say that this year’s edition of LSE AIC had a representative IE delegation of 20 students from both the university and the business school. Moreover, as a part of the conference, the AMT Training DCF Challenge, which tested participants financial modeling and valuation skills, was held and the winning team was comprised of IE Masters Program Students: Sambhav Golechha, Marvin Müller and Julien Lézé!
Hosted in London, the financial heart of Europe, the conference offered a wide range of insights from industry professionals: from trends that will shape the industry in years to come, to hands on practical sessions where they walked students through some of their deals and offered market and investment valuation techniques.
We also got to hear from industry legends, such as The Carlyle Group’s David Rubenstein, and Terra Firma’s Guy Hands. Both of them underlined the importance of developing not only the traditional finance skill set but also compassion, awareness and giving back to the community. This conference was a unique blend of inspiration, practical sessions, company presentations, and of course networking opportunities, ranging from experienced industry professionals and company representatives, to like minded delegates from other universities.
“It was a great privilege to attend such a remarkable event, attended by some exceptional students and the world's leading Private Equity firms, Hedge Funds, and Venture Capital Groups," commented Dan Bloch, a 3rd year BBABIR student, "2018 is certainly shaping as a fascinating year for the sector, particularly as we are seeing global interest rates at such a low level, alongside an almost unprecedented amount of capital, and money ready to be invested from the international markets.
"It will be very interesting to see how these firms go about securing these investments, especially in this time of high global competition, and whether we will see more instances of the "alternative investments" coming to fruition; potentially coming through the likes of renewable energy, resource and energy infrastructure, agri-tech etc,” he concluded.
“I had big expectations while applying for this conference, and they were surpassed. From the amazing keynote speakers to the hundreds of like-minded students, I was constantly learning and developing industry knowledge day by day. There were many inspiring speakers that shared their experiences from when they were students like us, to how they became to be, who they are today," noted Sebastian Sosa, a 2nd year BBA student, "We also got to meet amazing students, who shared their passions and inspirations, which was really helpful. By exchanging ideas, I discovered some new potential paths for the future that I had not thought about before. Overall I was really pleased to be a part of the 2018 LSE conference and I strongly recommend anyone interested in Finance to join and be part of this incredible experience!”
These observations by the attendees show that you should go beyond the classroom in order to learn more about your industry of interest!
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