**Tonight’s meeting began with a look at the current condition of our stock portfolio.
*China Educational Alliance (a recent addition to our portfolio) has thus far suffered a hefty drop of $300..that being said, analysts have faith that this stock will soon rise again, and continue in an upward trend.
*With the soon-to-be-released iPad, Apple shares have been on the rise.
*Mercadolibre (another recent buy) has also been performing quite well, and with its recent expansion into Portugal, we expect to see a continuous upward trend.
–Thoughts on stocks to sell? EROC? Nokia? Let’s hear your feedback on which stocks you think should stay and which ones should go!
**Lingyi gave an AWESOME presentation in which she pitched a stock soon to be listed on NYSE: KKR group, Kohlberg Kravis Robert & Co. KKR is a NYC-based private equity firm that invests primarily in leverage buyouts (i.e. using debt to acquire companies; high risk type of investment) and growth capital (i.e. helping mature companies grow; low risk type of investment). KKR completed 2 of the largest buyouts to date. KKR has invested in more than 160 companies. As of March 12, KKR has been filing for NYSE, planning to raise $7.5 billion, with the sale of 2.2 billion shares. It’s divisions include Asset Management and KKR Financial. In 2009, KKR’s pro forma net income was $1,953.9 billion. Lingyi believes that KKR will be a strong stock, noting that “as we are coming out of the recession, there will be a number of investment opportunites for private equity firms to take advantage of and profit from.” Great Job!!
**This past weekend, Swarthmore College held the LAX Entrepreneurship Conference. Meldon attended this day long event, and brought back some very valuable insight to share with our group. She gathered that right now, there are an increading number of different opportunities for entrepreneurs, and particularly within the chemicals industry. Mel noted that her favorite event that day was the highly interactive and engaging twitter conference, where she met with Swarthmore alum and co-founder of Twitter, and was even able to ‘tweet’ her thoughts in real-time throughout the presentation. One particularly important peice of advice that Mel took with her: “D0 your research (and do so extensively!). Meldon will be posting commentary and more insight gathered from the conference in her blog at “Startphilly.com” — a fantastic resource for local entrepreneurs! Be sure to check out the site, and please make sure to comment on Mel’s stuff! It’s great and quite insightful!! 🙂
**With fewer club donations than expected this year, OIG still had $2,000 left to donate… so, tonight, the members of OIG brainstormed a number of charities that would like to donate to, and then voted on 4 charities, each of which we will be donating $500 to.
And, the winning charities are….
*7 Sisters of China!! *Haiti/Disaster Relief!! *Chile Relief!! *Doctors without Borders!!
Thanks to all those who came out tonight! It was a productive and insightful meeting! Stay tuned for next week, as we have John Griffin (CFO of Bryn Mawr College!!) coming to talk to OIG about Bryn Mawr’s endowment! It’s quite an interesting talk, so be sure to invite friends, bring popcorn, sit back, and enjoy 🙂
See you next week!