msc finance newsletter december 2012
DESCRIPTION
MSc Finance Newsletter December 2012TRANSCRIPT
1
NEWSLETTER
GGSB MSc Finance
Dear MSc Finance Alumni,
At the end of November, we had our final exam boards meaning that we have now welcomed to the MSc Finance alumni community Grenoble intake 5 and London intake 4 students. Congratulations to these new graduates that have worked very hard on their dissertations over the last year.
In this Newsletter, you will find information about your program electives: we will run next April a new “Project Finance” elective.
You will also meet with two alumni (Florian from London 3 and Brjann from Gre-noble 4) that have accepted to tell us (almost) everything about their lives be-fore, during and after the MSc Finance. More Alumni interviews to follow in our next newsletters.
Finally, we will give you some information about the newly opened GEM finance community, publications from your professors at GGSB and the March 2013 Graduation ceremony and Gala.
This Newsletter is for you. So let us know what you think about it, information that you’d like to get etc…
I wish you a merry Christmas and a healthy and happy 2013 for you and your dear ones.
Kind regards,
Stephanie Boyer
CONTENT
Electives News - Alumni Success Stories - News from your Faculty
CIMA - GEM Finance Community - Graduation Ceremony
December 2012
2
NEWSLETTER
GGSB MSc Finance
We will be delivering a new elective on Project Finance Project Finance for the first time in April 2013. It will
be taught in London by a project finance professional (CFA charter holder, currently working in Pro-ject Finance for Societe Generale) and students from all locations (Grenoble, Singapore and London) could attend. 30 out of our 100 students this year have decided to take it.
40 students have chosen the IT tools for market finance elective (delivered in Grenoble or in London) where they will study financial modelling using VBA and trading on the Bloomberg trading platform. The remaining 30 students have decided to follow the Financial Management elective (in Grenoble or Singapore) where they will develop short term cash management skills and advanced strategic con-trolling competences.
Project Finance is typically used to fund large greenfield projects such as building infrastructures in sectors including transport, energy, oil & gas, mining, telecommunications and public utilities. Un-like classic corporate lending where the ultimate credit rationale resides on the creditworthiness of the borrower, under Project Finance structures lenders have recourse primarily to the revenue stream of the project or asset they are financing, rather than to the balance sheet of the sponsor. This area of finance is developing at a fast pace as governmental funding of large infrastructure projects is re-ducing.
This 30 hours module covers the fundamentals of Project Finance including:
Overview of Project Finance: What it is Advantages and disadvantages Description of a typical transaction, including key parties
Understanding key project risks: Risk identification Mitigating and managing project risks
Evaluating / structuring a project: Overview of the credit process up to financial close Credit risk appraisal – general considerations Financial structure, financial ratios and sensitivity analysis
Financial documentation: Review of the main financial documents and their key terms.
This module is practical, based on concrete examples and cases. It offers a solid background to stu-dents considering a job in Project Finance, either in a firm, in a bank or in an infrastructure fund. This new elective will definitely enhance our student’s chances to work in Project Finance teams.
Electives News
G G S B M S c I N F I N A N C E
December 2012
3
NEWSLETTER
GGSB MSc Finance
Alumni Success Stories… some news from you!
G G S B M S c I N F I N A N C E
One of our MSc Finance 7 Grenoble students, Anthony Abou Khater is our new program
ambassador and has started to interview our Alumni.
We are very pleased to share with you their experiences.
Florian PELLEGRINI
MSc Finance London 2009-2011
Tell us about yourself: career
and education background. If
you had the opportunity to
start over again, what would
you change?
Before joining the MSc in
Finance in London, I was part
o f the Grande Eco le
Programme. At that time,
I had a one-year experience in Capital
Markets as Derivatives Sales Assistant in
France and the United Kingdom at BNP
Paribas.
Right after the MSc, my previous team
offered me to come back for a 16-month
fixed-term contract (VIE). I received a
permanent job offer after 12 months and
joined the Rates Derivatives Sales team in
Milan in October 2011.
What are the possible next steps for you?
I cover a portfolio of Italian Large
Corporates and for this reason I am in touch
with corporate treasuries on a daily basis.
As I strongly believe that several years are
necessary to build strong relationships and
reach an appropriate level of
expertise in a
particular area, my short-term
objectives are basically learning
from the bank’s senior staff and
from my clients. I hope that
following this approach, I would
be able in the long term to jump
into a more general role within
the bank such as Senior Banker or to a
corporate treasury department.
What is it that attracts and excites you the
most about Finance? What inspires you to
continue working in it?
Finance provides an unlimited source of
information and there is always an exciting
topic to read about (in particular in the
current context). Working on strategic
transactions is also one of my main
motivations.
What do you do to keep your financial skills
up to date? What do you read? What are
your Financial Associations memberships?
Do you regularly attend seminars and
conferences?
I always try to have the meaning of every
financial word/ concept that I don’t know
December 2012
4
NEWSLETTER
GGSB MSc Finance
Alumni Success Stories… some news from you!
G G S B M S c I N F I N A N C E
explained by a specialist within the bank.
Market standards are continuously changing
and it is essential in this context to have an
updated knowledge. I participate to both
internal and external seminars as much as I
can.
Is there something that worries you about the
financial industry?
The financial industry has been severely hit
since 2007 but I am sure that we will see
better days in the near future.
What, in your opinion, are the skills required
to become a high performing finance
professional?
To me, commitment, curiosity and rigor are
the most important qualities to succeed in
finance.
What would be a typical working day for you?
A typical vacation day?
I start at 8.30am and read the most recent
research papers and top news. After that,
there is nothing typical as it mostly depends
on clients’ needs and upcoming meetings. It
is quite unusual to have lunch outside the
office as the desk must be covered at all time
should a client call to execute a transaction.
Usually, I leave the office at around 8pm.
What are your most memorable moments at
GGSB?
I really liked discovering trendy and original
places in London with my classmates and
gathering around a beer in the pub near the
school.
What advice do you have for the 2012-2013
MSc in Finance students?
Enjoy the student life and don’t hesitate to
widen your job search.
December 2012
5
NEWSLETTER
GGSB MSc Finance
Alumni Success Stories… some news from you!
G G S B M S c I N F I N A N C E
Brjánn BJARNASON
MSc Finance Grenoble 2009-2011
Tell us about yourself: career
and education background. If
you had the opportunity to
start over again, what would
y o u c h a n g e ?
I did my undergraduate
s tudies in industr ia l
engineering and I hold a BSc
from the University of
I c e l a n d . Du r i n g my
engineering studies, I worked part time as a
teacher in math and computers in my old high
school, I also spent two years teaching full
time after I graduated. I had always more
interest in finance and economics than
designing pipes and ventilation systems. I
therefore decided to try learning some
economics as I knew very little about finance. I
was then lucky as shortly afterwards I was
offered to join the Financial Advisory Team at
Deloitte. I spent one year with Deloitte and
subsequently went on to Glitnir Bank where I
was trusted with the responsibility of
implementing a Risk Management system for
their fund unit. I spent two eventful years at
Glitnir Bank through the Icelandic financial
crash. One year after the crash I decided to
move to Grenoble and finish my post-graduate
studies.
After my year in France I returned to Iceland
and took on the role of an account manager
and later Director in the Asset Management
department of Kaupthing hf. Kaupthing was
one of Iceland’s fallen banks so it is essentially
in wind-up proceedings.
Therefore you could say that my role is to
make myself redundant by selling the assets
I’m taking care of to maximize recovery for
creditors. It is however a very complicated
process which is anticipated to last for some
more years.
I don’t think I would change much in my career
to date. Even though my engineering studies
are not directly related to my current
profession it did provide me with excellent
analytical foundation.
What are the possible next steps for you?
As my current role is by nature not a future
role I am currently mostly focused on the
various projects I am dealing with from day to
day. I also aim to try to start the process of
passing the CFA tests in the year of 2013. My
short term objective is therefore to try and get
as much experience and contacts in my current
role to prepare myself for life after Kaupthing.
In the long-term I am aiming to establish
myself in an exciting company with good
growth potentials for both myself and the firm.
I am always open to new challenges and I
would consider most aspect of investment
banking, management consulting and every
December 2012
6
NEWSLETTER
GGSB MSc Finance
Alumni Success Stories… some news from you!
G G S B M S c I N F I N A N C E
other role offering me exciting challenges and
future prospects.
What is it that attracts and excites you the
most about Finance? What inspires you to
continue working in it?
I love the diversity finance offers. In my current
role I am using the various tools and methods I
learned at GGSB, but how those tools are
applied depends so heavily on the sector you
are working with. For example it is not enough
to know the formula to calculate WACC, you
have to have an opinion of so many other
things which depend on the sector and region
of the entity in question. Also, it is not a
problem to create a functional DCF model, but
the tricky part is to understand the core of the
underlying business to get a result that makes
sense. Without such insights the tools are
worthless.
In Finance you have to combine the use
capabilities from many different areas. To be
good at finance you really need to combine
your analytical skills with your understanding
of economics, accounting and in general the
mechanics of the global economy.
What do you do to keep your financial skills up
to date? What do you read? What are your
Financial Associations memberships? Do you
regularly attend seminars and conferences?
I use many of the skills I learned in my daily
work so to some extent I maintain and improve
my knowledge every day. I also do a lot of
reading and I am a fan of financial literature
and I always have at least one such book on
my nightstand. I also love to read good articles
from knowledgeable writers, unfortunately I
don’t have the time to read them all but two of
my favorites are John Mauldin and the writers
at GaveKal. To date I have not attended any
seminars after my graduation from GGSB but I
will definitely try to do so in the future. For the
moment I am aiming to start taking the CFA
degree in 2013.
Is there something that worries you about the
financial industry?
A lot of things worry me about the financial
industry and global economic climate. In my
opinion one of the core problems of the
financial industry is asymmetrical incentive
systems which are still widely in use. Such
system encourage employees in the finance
industry to take excessive risks as they stand
to gain a fortune if things go well, but lose
nothing if things go bad.
In general I am very much pro incentive
systems in the finance and other sectors, but
in my opinion it is essential that the interests
of all players are aligned.
What, in your opinion, are the skills required to
become a high performing finance
professional?
First and foremost good analytical skills are
needed as almost everything you do in finance
involves working with numbers.
December 2012
7
NEWSLETTER
GGSB MSc Finance
G G S B M S c I N F I N A N C E
Secondly I would say that you need to have
good communication skills and be able to work
easily with others as you are rarely working by
yourself on projects. Thirdly you have to have
ambition and drive as the finance industry is a
highly dynamic and competitive environment.
What would be a typical working day for you? A
typical vacation day?
My working day starts between 6 and 7 in the
morning when my children get up. I take them
to the kindergarten at 8 and then go to work.
My job is not a routine job so no two days are
the same. My job requires a fair bit of
travelling so those days are different.
Assuming I am at the office some days are
relaxed while others are very busy and require
working into the night. At my workplace we
have flexible working hours so if my schedule
allows for it I go for training at lunch time. I
usually leave the office around 5-6 in the
afternoon but I frequently take my laptop
home to complete some tasks or return to the
office after dinner with my family.
A day of vacation with my family is typically a
trip to a cottage or camping in the country side
in the Icelandic summer. I also do a lot of fly
fishing, but my children are still too young and
my wife is not interested so I do that with
friends.
What are your most memorable moments at
GGSB?
I had some great times at GGSB and met some
great people which I still regularly stay in touch
with. I have many great memories from time
spent with those friends from GGSB such as
parties, fondue nights and the gala to name a
few instances. I was also lucky to get to
encounter some very great and inspirational
professors which are memorable.
What advice do you have for the 2012-2013
MSc in Finance students?
Work Hard – Play Hard
Iceland, Reykjavik
December 2012
Alumni Success Stories… some news from you!
8
NEWSLETTER
GGSB MSc Finance
Christophe BONNET
Prof. Christophe Bonnet, who initiated the MSc in Finance program at GGSB in 2006 and has taught the "LBO and VC" module since, recently pub-lished an academic paper on the co-investment of venture capitalists and business an-gels in young technology ven-tures. He also published his second book (in French): “Finance entrepreneuriale: fi-nancer la création et la crois-sance de l'entreprise inno-vante” (Economica, Paris, Oc-tober 2012, www.finance-
entrepreneuriale.com).
Based on a longitudinal case study, the paper investigates the relational dynamics of raising equity finance to sup-port strong growth in a tech-nology venture when business angels and venture capitalists coinvest simultaneously. It stresses the complementarity of these two investors types and analyses the roles they play during the stages of the fund raising process.
Business angels, given their previous entrepreneurial ex-per ience and industry knowledge, play a key role in detecting and translating the project potential. They also provide an active support to entrepreneurs during the post investment phase, helping to grow the young venture. Ven-ture capitalists play a domi-nant role during the deal structuring stage (negotiation
of price and contracts) as well as in monitoring the entrepre-neurs during the post-investment stage.
We conclude that first-time entrepreneurs may have an interest in addressing both business angels and formal venture capitalists when they raise equity finance.
(Bonnet C., Wirtz P., 2012. Raising Capital for Rapid Growth in Young Technology Ventures: When Business An-gels and Venture Capitalists Coinvest. Venture Capital. Vol. 14, issue 2-3: 91-110).
G G S B M S c I N F I N A N C E
François DESMOULINS-LEBEAULT
In July 2012, François Desmoulins-Lebeault has published in the Journal of
Banking and Finance (vol.36, pp. 1987-1996) a paper titled “Non-Gaussian
Diversification, When Size Matters”.
What we show in the paper is that while classical portfolio theory informs in-
vestors that they should have a large number of assets in their portfolios in
order to diversify risk, the non-Gaussian features of the joint stock return distribution may not al-
low for this risk protection in times of crisis. Moreover, we demonstrate empirically that, if investors
are risk-averse and consider higher order moments, they have numerous incentives not to diversify
their portfolios fully. This is caused by the evolution of both large losses and asymmetry of returns
when the numbers of assets in a portfolio change.
News from your Faculty (1/2)
December 2012
9
NEWSLETTER
GGSB MSc Finance
Isabelle CHABOUD
Audit Network
Over the years, I have man-
aged to convince some of my
students that audit or auditing
could be a good start for a ca-
reer. Now, I am proud to say
that they are successfully
working for one of the Big 4
not only in France (Paris, Lyon)
but also in other countries :
Luxemburg, Germany, Brazil,
Switzerland…and they are
HAPPY!
I keep in touch with most of
them and forward you once in
a while a mail when they are
looking for new candidates, or
I give you some advice or con-
tact names to help with inter-
views…
I maintain my contacts at the
Big 4 thanks to my previous
job as audit manager at PwC,
by attending invitation-only
technical training events ,
thanks to conferences (I re-
cently organized a conference
in Grenoble on Audit which
more than 120 students at-
tended), thanks to contacts
with Alumni…
I try to keep my competences
up to date to help you gain
knowledge on auditing
throughout my courses. I try
to be very active to maintain
good relationships with audit
firms, to understand their
needs.
But today, my priority is to
improve and broaden my net-
work even more to help new
students find jobs in this field.
Auditing firms seem to be very
satisfied with our students, so
please keep in touch and help
our future students by main-
taining a good and efficient
network . All your tips, advic-
es, contacts and testimonies
regarding audit would be very
welcome.
G G S B M S c I N F I N A N C E
News from your Faculty (2/2)
CIMA Certificate in Business Accounting
An interesting information from Boris Feiguel (MSc Finance London alumni) : as soon as you have validated the taught part of the program, you can be exempted from four out of the five exams of the CIMA Certificate in Busi-
ness Accounting (the first level of the CIMA certification). The only exam to take to get the CIMA Certificate is C05 Fundamentals of Ethics, Corporate Governance & Business Law.
December 2012
10
NEWSLETTER
GGSB MSc Finance
G G S B M S c I N F I N A N C E
CongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulationsCongratulations
to the new Graduates from the MSc Finance intake 5 Grenoble and the MSc Finance intake 4 London. The Graduation Ceremony is going to take place on Saturday 16 March 2013: Mark it on your agenda!
Season’s Season’s
GreetingsGreetings
We wish you all Happy Holidays We wish you all Happy Holidays
GEM Finance Community :
New Community for passionate finance students !
GEM FinanceGEM FinanceGEM Finance… A community built BY YOU and FOR YOU … Prove your passion for finance!
The aim is to enable you to become stronger candidates for financial recruiters worldwide by openly shar-ing your experience (this is a private community accessible only to GEM students and alumni).
Join and participate in this community to:
• Federate a GEM finance spirit
• Find out what’s going on in the financial world • Share best practices • Share knowledge in the financial sector ( forums, surveys, best info sites)
• Build your network • Follow the recruiters challenges and participate in finance competitions
• Help build our notoriety with leading employers
The name of the game… TEAM = Together Everyone Achieves More…
• You attended an assessment center – what were the questions you were asked?
• You are submitting an application online, find a buddy who is a native English speaker and have them review your application – help one another...
• Blog, share your passion ! • Team up and participate in financial competitions, make yourself a worthy job candidate!
Being an active member of this community can also be a definite addition to your CV!
http://graduatenetwork.grenoble-em.com/gemfinance
December 2012