SIG - The Henley Finance Club
About The Henley Finance Club
The Finance Club established in 2010 has been set up to promote finance related activities and careers development events for Henley Business School alumni and associates. The club will cater to members with a wide variety of finance related interests - whether it is Investment Banking, Investment Management, Venture Capital/Private Equity, or Corporate Finance and Risk Management.
The Finance Club will be developing finance alumni relations strategy, keeping alumni up to date with current Finance Developments in Industry and within HBS.
The club is useful for Henley alumni who have worked in / or are interested in:
- Investment, commercial and retail banking
- Investment management, hedge funds, security analysis and broking
- The finance function of industrial, commercial and service organisations
- Capital markets, trading and risk management
- Corporate finance, venture capital and corporate restructuring
- Corporate planning and consultancy, where a detailed knowledge of finance is required e.g. accountants
- Accountancy firms, regulatory bodies, legal firms, property consultants, commodity businesses and investor relations specialists requiring an in-depth understanding of finance
- Finance within the public sector and not-for-profit organisations, such as central banks, local/national governments and international organisations.
Forthcoming events:
Wealth Preservation Seminar - 24 May 2012
Venue: Henley Business School, Greenlands, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire RG9 3AU
Speakers: Ian Miles - Partner at James Cowper Accountants, Paul Stott - Partner, Guy Barker - Partner at Mercers Solicitors and Ian Brady - Chief Investment Officer at Oaktree Wealth Management
Date: 24 May 2012
Time: 18.15 for 19.15
Cost: Free of charge
It's a harsh economic climate!
With interest rates at an all time low, high income tax rates, high inflation, relatively high capital gains tax and increasingly volatile markets it is proving difficult to get positive returns from family wealth. Our presentation, over approximately 1.5 hours, delivered by three of the region's foremost experts, will provide thought-provoking and practical advice, through the form of real life examples, on how you can ensure you preserve existing wealth whilst maximising family wealth for future generations.
Following the key stages of the family timeline, the seminar will give ideas and tips on a range of issues including:
- How flexible and adaptable long term planning strategies can increase your family wealth
- Tax efficient planning
- Use of Trusts and Wills to protect family wealth through the generations
- Safeguarding wealth from matrimonial breakdown, insolvency and mental incapacity
- Increasing returns from assets in a low growth and volatile environment
With speakers from the disciplines of accountancy, law and wealth management, our presentation aims to cover many of the issues currently facing our clients and how, through an integrated approach to planning, these have been addressed to help preserve family wealth.
Ian Miles, James Cowper 
Ian Miles is a Private Client Tax Partner and heads the firm's services in this sector. Ian joined James Cowper from Grant Thornton where he was Head of their National Estate Planning Group as well as Joint Head of Direct Tax Services for Charities. At James Cowper he continues to specialise in the management of trusts and estates, as well as manage the firm's Henley office.
Paul Stott, Mercers 
Paul joined Mercers' Private Client Department in 1986 becoming a Partner in 1988. He specialises in Capital Tax Planning with particular reference to the use of Trusts, Asset Protection and Wills, advising individuals, trustees and executors. He is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.
Guy Barker, Mercers
Guy qualified in 1999 and is Head of Mercers' Private Client Department. He specialises in Tax and Estate Planning, Wills and the use of trusts.
Ian Brady, Oaktree Wealth Management 
Ian has over 25 years fund management experience with globally renowned institutions. He was Head of Funds at Invesco Perpetual. In 2006 and 2007 Ian was voted one of the most consistent fund managers in the Investment Week/S&P Fund of Fund sector.
To book a place please email Irina Woodford at Irina.woodford@henley.com with the following details:
Name:
Company/Job title:
Email address:
Dietary requirements:
Henley Workshops - Henley Business School - T.B.A
- Fraud and Bribery Act for SME's
- Private Company Tax Issues
- Beyond Budgeting
- Business Ethics and Trading
Event reports:
The Henley Finance Club Summer Event at the Archie David Polo Cup Final - 26 June 2011
Sunday the 26th of June 2011 saw 30 Henley Finance Club members; guests and children arrive at Smith's Lawn in Windsor Great Park to a champagne welcome, Pimms Royale and canapés. As temperatures soared, members soaked up the sun while enjoying the networking and lunch in the private enclosure.
Paul Langham, Owner of a'Beckett's Vineyard kicked off the talk with how he and his wife started a'Becketts Vineyard and how it is financed through Crowd Sourcing and MicroFinance. a'Beckett's Vineyard is a 30 acre farm with a 10 acre vineyard and 7 acre orchard situated half way between Avebury and Stonehenge in the village of Littleton Panell. They are developing a range of English Wines, Cider and Apple Juice that are Vegan friendly.
Stewart Dickson, Assistant Director of Corporate Finance at Seymour Pierce made a presentation on Commodities ,"Boom or Bust for Equity Capital Markets", focusing on Metals and Mining. Stewart joined Seymour Pierce in April 2010 having previously worked at Daniel Stewart for over three years and prior to that he served in the British Army for 7 years and saw operational service. He has a wide range of financial advisory and corporate broking transaction experience including IPOs, reverse takeovers and M&A under the Takeover Code.
The beating of the drums by the Band of the Irish Guards signalled the end of the speeches as members made their way to watch the thrilling polo in which Apache beating Shalimar (7-11) in the fourth chukka to take the Archie David Trophy. HFC Members joined in the polo traditions by treading divots in between chukkas and watching the presentations at the end of the match. This wonderful Henley Finance Club event ended with an asado in the clubhouse and tango dancing courtesy of the Argentine Tourist Board. We have attached event pictures and presentations for your perusal.
I have received kind emails from members who thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Most importantly, I would like to thank the speakers, members of the club and others that continue to support the Henley Finance Club's endeavours and help to make Henley Finance Club events a success.
Stewart Dickson wrote, " Thanks for organizing yesterday. It had all of the hallmarks of a successful day - an interesting group of people, great venue and expertly organized. You even booked some stellar weather! I hope that the Group continues to go from strength to strength; I will happily support events when possible. Groups like this really add value to the overall MBA experience."
Andrea Windisch wrote "A huge compliment for offering us all such an amazing event, I really enjoyed being there.... You really went to great lengths to make us all comfortable and it was a pleasure being there."
- pictures (PDF-2.9MB)
- Presentation: a’Beckett’s Vineyard 'Crowd Funding' (PDF-219 KB)
- Presenation: Commodities - Boom or bust for Equity Capital Markets? (PDF-719 MB)
Our next event Summer Polo is on the 4th of September 2011. To join please email: join@henleyfinanceclub.co.uk
2 June 2011 - Henley Finance Club Event Report- "Ignore Risk Management at your Peril: Governance, Risk and Reputation"
On a summer evening of 2 June 2011, the Henley Finance Club evening kicked off at the beautiful but relaxed surroundings of the Oxford and Cambridge Club Marlborough Room. The club with its luxurious surroundings and distinguished membership kindly let me use their facilities as a reciprocal member.
The event was well attended by over 44 professionals from diverse finance backgrounds ranging from fund management firm owners to risk management consultants. This stimulated debate throughout the evening proving the topic to be a hit.
Our prominent panel was comprised of Reputation expert - Seamus Gillen, BBC business and economics editor - Jeremy Hillman and ICMA lecturer - Deepa Govindarajan.
Seamus Gillen delivered a message that a great reputation leads to supportive behaviors, this is driven by the proven correlation between stakeholder behaviors, share price and company value. To access the leaflet distributed by Seamus Gillen, please click here.
Jeremy Hillman's highly interactive presentation showed his experiences at the BBC. He said that a fast and appropriate reaction to a reputation crisis is key while companies that are slow to react usually pay a financial price. He went on to say that continued monitoring is paramount due to the growing Web 2.0 landscape.
Deepak Govindarajan engaged the audience with research that she is involved with at the ICMA. She spoke about the banking crisis and linkage between strategy to risk appetite. She stressed a change in mindset is needed especially for those whole role is to manage other people's money. If you would like access to the presentation made by Deepa Govindarajan, please contact her directly on d.govindarajan@icmacentre.ac.uk.
I was impressed with the presentations and the speakers' knowledge in the subject matter and the feeback that we have received after the event reflects that.
The event was successful in satisfying the Henley Club's objectives as follows:
- To develop a networking platform for the Henley Finance community and industry
- To bring an event that delivers the latest thinking on topical finance subjects from subject matter experts
- To facilitate debate amongst the Henley Finance Club community about current issues in finance
Once again I would like to thank the Panel, the Henley Alumni team and all attendees for making the event a success. Please find below two of the three presentations made on the night.
9 October 2010 - The Launch of the Henley Finance Club: The Outlook for Private Equity for SME's
'Henley Finance Club Inaugural success'
On Tuesday 19 October 2010 Clydesdale Bank kindly opened its doors to over 30 members for the launch event of The Henley Finance Club which has been created to promote finance related activities and careers throughout the Henley Business School.
The inaugural event of the Henley Finance Club was held in the heart of the city hosted by Clydesdale Bank and was well attended by alumni, current students and guests as our speakers delivered their lectures on The Outlook for Private Equity for SME's.
The first speaker was Colin Ellis, Chief Economist and Head of Research at the British Venture Capital Association (BVCA) and he took the floor to provide a valuable insight into the role of the BVCA in Private Equity, the investment process and future outlook. He outlined his optimistic view for the potential of PE investment in a downturn at all levels of the economy and the need for an enterprise seeking funding to have a strong vision and build relationships with potential investors.
Adrian Wenn, Assistant Regional Director, South Region, Clydesdale Bank provided valuable insights into the general economic position from the banks viewpoint with practical comments on the impact on regulation with relevance to the SME sector. Overall he urged enterprises to have a proactive relationship with their bank and to be transparent.
The floor was then opened to Q&A, with some tough questions about growth in difficult economic conditions. Both speakers held forth on the opportunities open to strong enterprises and how historical returns in a post-recession are often some of the best. The evening drew to a close with many members, guests and speakers networking over refreshments.
The Finance Club is looking to grow its global membership in 2011. As well as the Special Interest Group (SIG) webpage, the club has its own website address www.henleyfinanceclub.co.uk and a Linkedin group (HenleyFinanceClub) which will provide members or an alumnus, an organised focal point for information on club activities.
The Club founder and Chair, MBA participant Brenda Sibindi commented:
"I very much look forward to the upcoming year and our speaker series events. I hope many of our alumni and students will be there to join us. I would like to thank Clydesdale bank for providing us with such a great venue and to thank the Henley Business School and the ICMA Centre Alumni teams for their help and support in setting up the Finance Club and helping to make the launch event a reality. It is through their dedication of time and resources that we were able to hold a launch event of unmitigated success".
Mission
- To develop a networking powerhouse of financial expertise within the HBS Finance community and the Financial Services Industry through a speaker series to foster relations with leading financial services institutions for student career guidance.
- To arrange events that deliver the latest thinking on finance subjects ranging from capital raising techniques to corporate valuation and from hedge funds to private equity blended with real life application.
- To aim to maximise contact with potential employers and business partners.
Membership
The Henley Finance Club is open to all HBS and ICMA alumni. It is intended that members develop the activities of the Group, and members will be invited to provide support including speakers, white papers and sponsorship. Guests of members are welcome at events and may attend future meetings as an Associate Member. Guests and Associates will be asked to pay a differential premium price for some events. To join the club, please email join@henleyfinanceclub.co.uk
Steering Committee
We are currently establishing a steering committee and would be delighted to hear from interested parties.
Contact Us
If you have any comments or queries regarding the Henley Finance Club or have offers of venues or speaker contacts you can share, please get in touch by email: info@henleyfinanceclub.co.uk
- Website: www.HenleyFinanceClub.co.uk
- Telephone: +44 (0) 1491 418 777
- Linkedin group