Panels

Capital Markets: How Much Alpha is Really Out There?
Managing Directors: Surviving The Street
Growth Opportunities: The Role of Finance in Enabling Corporate Expansion
Financial Sponsors: Finding Value in a Competitive Market
The Global Economy: Have Traction, Will Travel
Microfinance: Making Macro Waves in Financial Markets

Capital Markets: How Much Alpha is Really Out There?

With flattening yield curves, lower volatility, and increased government regulations, what methods are investors taking to maximize alpha? This panel will look at the impact of hedge funds on the market place, analyze the current macroeconomic events weighing on the market, and discuss the positives and negatives of increased government regulations on the industry. Finally, our experts will weigh in on what catalysts they deem necessary to change the current direction of the market.

Panelists include:

Moderator: Joseph N. DiStefano, Reporter, The Philadelphia Inquirer

Robert G. Catalanello, Managing Director, Merrill Lynch

Steven B. Kreichman, Managing Director, Citigroup

Michael Ching, Managing Director, UBS Investment Bank

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Managing Directors: Surviving The Street

Are you thinking about a career in investment banking? This panel is composed of senior investment bankers who will discuss their success in an industry marked by fierce competition and constant change. The discussion will focus on three central themes - breaking into the industry, surviving in the industry, and anticipating what comes next. Within this framework, the panelists will share how factors such as globalization, industry consolidation, regulation, and the latest recession have shaped investment banking as we know it and what impact these changes might have on the next generation of investment bankers.

Moderator: Peter Degnan, Director of MBA Career Management, The Wharton School

James Brennan, Managing Director, Mergers and Acquisitions, UBS Investment Bank

Dan Kaypaghian, Managing Director, Deutsche Bank

Kenneth R. Marks, Managing Director, Global Energy and Utility Group, Morgan Stanley

Jane Sadowsky, Managing Director, Citigroup

Martin Ragde, Managing Director, Debt Capital Markets, Lehman Brothers

Parker A. Weil, Managing Director, Merrill Lynch

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Growth Opportunities: The Role of Finance in Enabling Corporate Expansion

Rising interest rates, a dampened investor appetite for IPOs, and economic uncertainty stemming from high energy prices and terrorism threats have recently challenged corporate managers seeking to finance growth. Is it better in this environment to raise debt or equity? What new markets or products are most attractive? How should cash be allocated to growth while still meeting short-term liquidity needs?

This year's corporate finance panel will feature senior corporate financial managers alongside leading investment bankers. The panelists will seek to demonstrate through their personal experiences the different avenues for company expansion, from organic growth to M&A.

Panelists include:

Moderator: Joseph G. Sauvage, Managing Director, Co-Head, Global Power Group

Leroy T. Barnes, Vice President and Treasurer, PG&E Corporation

Paul H. Hough, Senior Vice President, Corporate Treasurer, American Express Company

Mitch Theiss, Managing Director, Global Industries Group, Merrill Lynch

Buzz Doherty, Managing Director and Head, Oil & Gas Investment Banking, Barclays Capital

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Financial Sponsors: Finding Value in a Competitive Market

Although the amount of capital raised by financial sponsors has decreased significantly over the last three years, private equity firms still have approximately $100 billion of uninvested funds. Abundant capital coupled with strong financing markets and an improved economy has helped drive private equity activity over the past two years. For the first six months of 2004, buyout firms closed 187 transactions for an estimated value of $49 billion, versus 109 transactions valued at $31 billion for the same period last year. However, fierce competition from both financial and corporate buyers to win deals has pressured returns in the space.

The Financial Sponsors panel will explore the opportunities and challenges faced by financial sponsors and the firms that cover them. Particular attention will be paid to current trends in the private equity industry, including the increase in multi-billion dollars transactions, the sale of companies between financial sponsors, rising purchase multiples, and increased buyout activity in Europe.

Panelists include:

Moderator: Professor Andrew Metrick, Associate Professor of Finance, The Wharton

School, University of Pennsylvania

Daniel A. D'Aniello, Founding Partner and Managing Director, The Carlyle Group

John A. Katzenberg, Managing Director, Citigroup

Jorge Mora, Executive Director, Financial Sponsors Group, UBS Investment Bank

Michael Movsovich, Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Kathryn B. Swintek, Managing Director, Head of Leveraged Finance Group, BNP Paribas

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The Global Economy: Have Traction, Will Travel

After a period of anemic growth, evidence is building that a global economic recovery is is emerging. However, the current upturn has yet to be accompanied by the levels of sustained confidence and enthusiasm that featured prominently in past recoveries. Indeed, the economic recovery over the past year has been far from even, progressing instead in fits and starts, with periods of encouraging economic data alternating with those falling below expectations. With the uncertainty of rising oil prices, the war in Iraq, global terrorism, and an impending U.S. presidential election, the questions of traction and when a strong global recovery might sustainably take hold naturally arise.

The Global Economy Panel will explore the underpinnings and quality of anticipated economic growth, with a specific focus on the outlook for financial markets in the year ahead.

Panelists include:

Moderator: Frederic Neumann, Professorial Lecturer and Adjunct Professor

in Southeast Asia Studies, The Johns Hopkins University-SAIS

Stephen A. Meyer, Vice President and Senior Economic Policy Advisor,

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

George Melloan, Deputy Editor, International, Wall Street Journal

Dr. Victoria Marklew, Vice President, Northern Trust

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Microfinance: Making Macro Waves in Financial Markets

The field of microfinance has enjoyed a growing interest among Wharton students in recent years, as more and more MBA students are exploring the ways that their business and finance skills can be used to promote sustainable development and poverty reduction. Microfinance, the provision of small-scale financial services to clients traditionally viewed as "unbankable", has proven itself able to make a significant impact profitably - in several instances generating returns-on-equity higher than those of even Citigroup.

The Microfinance panel seeks to explore the intersection between microfinance and the mainstream finance industry. Once the realm of NGOs and donor organizations, microfinance in recent years has drawn the increasing attention of both investment banks and rating agencies with its entry into global capital markets and growing instances of bond issuances, specialized equity funds, and financial innovation.

Panelists include:

Moderator: Tor Jansson, Investment Officer, International Finance Corporation

Louise Schneider, Financial Products and Services Coordinator, Women's World Banking

Christina E. Barrineau, Chief Technical Advisor, United Nations Capital Development Fund

Gil Crawford, General Manager, MicroVest Capital Management

Vivian Kotun, Deutsche Bank Microcredit Development Fund (DB MDF)

J. Brad Swanson, Partner, Developing World Markets

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