Student-Managed $10 Million Fund Soars, by Lauren Looi, edited by Derek Wong

On February 24, 2011 finance professionals and students alike gathered in the foyer of the Segal Graduate School campus in downtown Vancouver. As they walked into the building, they were greeted with welcome packages before being ushered into the presentation room. Not only was it a chance to attend SIAS’ fourth quarter presentation, but also the opportunity to mingle with industry colleagues, past alumni, and future graduates.

During the first quarter of 2011, the SIAS fund broke new ground by reaching an asset value of $10.8 million for the first time. Feeling the rush of reaching new highs in the current environment, we were excited to deliver news of a 9.9% return for the final three months of 2010. Alex Conconi opened up the event with a brief overview of the year’s events including the financial impact of Greek’s downgraded debt, the explosion of BP’s Deep Horizon oil rig, and the rise of

Potash to bring the summary back to local shores. The Compliance team, represented by Edward Lee, reported the quarterly performance of the SIAS fund while Helen Yin of the Risk team explained the risk mitigation techniques and risk decisions used to manage the portfolio. Elif Boz reported on the global growth of emerging markets that will fuel Canada’s resource sectors and the significant uncertainty in the European nations and Japan. The Canadian Equity team’s incredible fourth quarter performance of 10.25% return, led by a 1.54% of active return from the materials sector was highlighted by Aldaris Zhong. The turbulent environment in the global markets was illustrated by large volatility in the Global portfolio as Ashkan Ziabakhshdeylami described strategies to overweight the US. Lastly, Ayla Yang described how the Fixed Income team minimized interest rate risk through matching key rate duration. Following this, Alex wrapped up the presentation by opening the floor to questions from the advisory panel.

After the presentation and Q&A session, guests were invited to a reception in the Vancouver Sun Room for hors d’oeuvres and beverages. This gave industry professional and future graduates the opportunity to talk about financial strategies and innovative techniques to manage the SIAS portfolio. It was a wonderful way to wind-down the day’s activities.

If you would like more information about future presentations, fund management, or our SIAS team, more details can be found at http://beedie.sfu.ca/sias/ or feel free to email us at sias@sfu.ca.