Alternative Investment Symposium 2021
Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, NTU-IIC’s annual Alternative Investment Symposium was held virtually this year. While a first, we were nonetheless fortunate to have a panel of experienced industry veterans who graced the event and shared their valuable insights in the alternative investments space.
In 2021, the AIS achieved success by transitioning to a virtual format amid the pandemic. Distinguished speakers like Ms. Joanne Murphy (Managing Director of CAIA Asia Pacific), Ms. Jean Thoh (Executive Director of UOB Venture Management), and Mr. Jack Wu (Director of Content APAC, CAIA) shared insights into alternative investments. Topics included CAIA’s merits, distinctions between private equity and venture capital, and real estate case studies. AIS continued its tradition of knowledge-sharing and networking, benefiting students interested in alternative investments, while fostering connections with industry leaders.
Our second speaker was Ms Jean Thoh, Executive Director of UOB Venture Management, who introduced the participants to Private Equity (PE) and Venture Capital (VC) and analysed their similarities and differences. To summarise the insights provided by Ms Thoh, PE and VC are similar in a sense that they provide funding to private companies. However, PE and VC firms have different goals and their funding occurs at different stages of a business. In essence, Venture Capitalists typically invest in younger, earlier stage companies and seek higher returns to compensate for higher risks. On the other hand, PE funding typically occurs in later stage companies which are more mature. PE firms usually acquire larger majority stakes in these businesses to manage and scale them up before seeking exit opportunities, such as through an IPO to gain a return on investment. Ms Thoh also highlighted the greater mission of PE and VC firms – they support the growth of small businesses and enterprises, which form the backbones of any economy, contributing significantly to an economy’s employment and GDP.
Lastly, we had Mr Jack Wu, CFA, Director of Content APAC, CAIA, as our third speaker, who analysed and went through a private market real estate deal case study with the participants. He shared the key considerations of a real estate investment and broke down the anatomy of the returns on a typical value-add real estate investment (medium risk, medium returns investment) – largely capital gains. Lastly, Mr Wu walked us through his thought process via a scenario analysis prior to settling on a final investment decision, while factoring in significant risk factors.
Additionally, we would like to thank Professor Bryan Low for moderating the panel discussion on alternative investments in Southeast Asia with our distinguished speakers. We would also like to extend our gratitude to everyone who attended Alternative Investment Symposium 2021 and making it a huge success.