Alternative Investments/Fall Module II: Nov. 14-Jan 15
Peking University HSBC Business School
 
Location/Time: C-105/M,Thu: 10:30-12:20                                      Instructor: Dr. Erik Benrud
Office Hours:    M 4-5, Tue. 4-5 or by appt.                                      Office:       C-414
Tel #:                 86-755-2603-3084                                                   E-mail:       ebenrud@phbs.pku.edu.cn
 
Course Overview:   
The goal of this course is to examine important topics for persons employed in the alternative investment industry.  Topics include the management of hedge funds, private equity, real estate, commodities, collectibles, and REITS and other alternative investment companies.  This will include examining regulations, fund structures, the calculation of fees, and tools used such as technical analysis.  There will also be a survey of the types and nature of the assets in the growing alternative investment universe, e.g., wine, art, and other collectibles.

Objectives:     
- Learn the many types of alternative investments: hedge funds, private equity, commodities, real estate, collectibles, etc..
- Learn the business structure of investment companies in this market such as hedge funds and private equity funds
- Learn the trends in this market.
- Learn how fees are calculated.
- Learn the regulations that govern the industry and how they are changing. 
- Learn the common tools used by most professionals for managing alternative investments such as technical analysis.   
 
Prerequisites:     Corporate Finance (FIN521), Investments (FIN513) and statistics courses and are recommended.
 
Approach: The course will consist of lectures, video representations, homework, projects, and discussions.  Lectures will include discussions of current events or subjects I assign as research topics.  Work in Excel will be part of the learning process.  Some assignments will involve downloading data from the Internet and analyzing it in Excel.
 
Class Format: Most of the class time will consist of lectures and discussion of current events in alternative investments. 
 
Practice Problems:  I will post practice problems that you should be able to work for the exams.
Assignments to hand in: These will be assigned at various times.  They will be Excel problems, cases, and advanced problems.  Late assignments will be penalized by a letter grade each day.  When specified, you can work in groups of 2s and 3s. You can also work on your own.  
 
Grading:             In-class work/participation                     20%
                     Homework/Research                       20%
                     Exams                                      60%      
 
 
Course Materials: a time-value of money (TVM) calculator, EXCEL, access to the Internet and the ability to download required materials..
 
Readings: Handouts and links to PPT presentations, Internet articles, and other documents.  I will hand out some of these, but after the first week, you will be required to download or print out most of materials yourself. 
 
Web pages to watch (more to come):       http://allaboutalpha.com/blog/                                                                http://www.reuters.com/finance/deals/hedgeFunds
 
Tentative Course Schedule
 
Week            Topic
 
Nov. 14 History of Alternative Investments
 
Nov. 18 A survey of alternative investments and their returns
Nov. 21 A survey of alternative investments and their returns
 
Nov. 25 Trends in alternative investments
Nov. 28      Trends in alternative investments
 
Dec.  2        The business structure of alternative investment companies
Dec.  5        Fees and regulations
 
Dec.  9        Fees and regulations
Dec. 14  Exam I
 
Dec. 16  Risk and return measures
Dec. 19  Risk and return measures
 
Dec. 23  Technical analysis
Dec. 26  Technical analysis
 
Dec. 30  No Class.
Jan.    2     Commodities
 
Jan.    6     Real Estate
Jan.    9     Art and collectibles
 
Jan.  13       Review  
 
 
FINAL EXAM TBA