TBC
Speakers
Specialist speaker events
Venue to be announced
Practitioners from less-travelled corners of finance talk about their work and the route they took to get there.
Warwick Alternative Investment Society
Finance, beyond the obvious.
Specialist speakers, networking and firm visits that open up the corners of finance most students never hear about.
About us
Finance has more doors than you think.
Warwick Alternative Investment Society exists to shine a light on the areas of finance that traditional finance societies don't usually cover.
Our aim is simple: raise awareness of the sectors that not everyone knows about, and build real routes into them. We do that through the people we bring in, the connections we help you make, and the firms we take you to see.
What are alternative investments?
Most students meet finance through the traditional route: shares (equities), bonds and cash, and the investment banks and asset managers built around them. An alternative investment is anything that sits outside those three. That usually means assets that are not bought and sold on a public stock exchange every day, and strategies that do something different from simply buying and holding shares.
Alternatives matter because of how big and how fast-growing they are. Pension funds, university endowments, sovereign wealth funds and family offices put large shares of their money into them, usually to diversify away from the ups and downs of public markets and to chase returns that traditional assets can't offer. They also employ a lot of people, in roles most graduates never hear about until they are already applying elsewhere.
The trade-off is real, and we'll be honest about it: alternatives are often harder to value, harder to sell quickly, more complex, and sometimes more expensive. Understanding both sides is exactly what makes them interesting to study.
The asset classes
"Alternative assets" is an umbrella term. Here are the main families we'll be exploring, from the well-established to the emerging.
Private markets
Private equity
Buying and improving companies that aren't listed on a stock exchange, from buyouts of established businesses to growth investments, then selling them years later.
Private markets
Venture capital
Backing early-stage start-ups before they have proven themselves. High risk, with the chance of outsized returns if a few bets pay off.
Private markets
Private credit
Lending directly to companies outside the traditional banking system. A fast-growing market that has taken on a big part of the lending banks once did.
Strategies
Hedge funds
Funds that use flexible strategies, such as long/short, global macro, event-driven and quantitative trading, to try to make returns in rising and falling markets.
Real assets
Real estate
Property in all its forms: offices, housing, logistics warehouses, data centres and more, held directly or through funds, for rental income and growth.
Real assets
Infrastructure
Long-life assets society depends on, like energy networks, renewables, toll roads, ports and telecoms, which tend to provide steady, long-term cash flows.
Real assets
Commodities
Raw materials such as oil, gas, metals and agricultural products, traded to gain exposure to the real economy or to protect against inflation.
Emerging
Digital assets
Cryptocurrencies and blockchain-based assets: a young, volatile and fast-changing market that institutions are still working out how to approach.
Collectibles
Art, wine and more
Passion assets such as fine art, wine, classic cars and watches. Valuing and trading them is a specialist skill of its own.
Beyond these sit even more specialist corners, including insurance-linked securities, carbon and environmental markets, royalties, litigation finance and secondaries. We'll shine a light on those too.
What we'll cover
We want every event to leave you knowing something you didn't before, and knowing someone you didn't before. Our programme will be built around:
- How each asset class works. How money is raised, where it is put to work, how managers are paid, and how returns are made.
- Speaker talks and panels. Investors, fund managers, founders and advisers from across alternatives, talking openly about their work, their deals and their career paths.
- Educational sessions. Beginner-friendly workshops on topics like valuation, fund structures, deal analysis and how to read a pitch, with no prior knowledge needed.
- Case studies and investment pitches. Working through real deals and market stories, and pitching your own ideas to your peers.
- Careers and recruitment. What the roles actually involve, which firms hire, when applications open, and how to stand out. We'll cover the routes into the areas of finance that rarely get a mention on a standard careers fair.
- Networking and insight days. Time with professionals and alumni, plus visits to firms to see the work first-hand.
Whether you study finance, economics, maths, law, engineering or something completely different, and whether you're a first year curious about the industry or a finalist with an offer to chase, there's a place for you.
How we'll do it
01
Specialist speakers
Hear first-hand from people working in less-travelled corners of finance, and ask the questions you can't Google.
02
Networking sessions
Meet professionals and fellow members, and start building the contacts that open doors.
03
Insight Days
Organised visits to firms, and insight programmes that show you what the work is really like.
Events
What's coming up.
Three kinds of event. Dates will be announced here and on our Instagram as soon as they're confirmed.
TBC
Networking
Networking sessions
Venue to be announced
Meet professionals and fellow members in a relaxed setting, and start building the contacts that open doors.
TBC
Insight Trips
Bank and firm visits
Locations to be announced
Organised trips and insight programmes that take you inside banks and firms to see what the work is really like.
Follow
Follow along.
Our Instagram is where we share the latest. This website keeps the essentials, like who we are and how to reach us, neatly in one place.
Contact
Get in touch.
Questions, speaker suggestions, or want to get involved? Email either of our co-founders, or message us on Instagram.
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Safwan Jamil Co-Foundersafwan.jamil@warwick.ac.uk
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Finn Coleman Co-Founderfinn.coleman@warwick.ac.uk
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Instagram Send us a message@warwickaltinvestment