The Orange Value Fund first closing raises $1.1 million

The Orange Value Fund first closing raises $1.1 millionOctober 11, 2006Amy Schmitzaemehrin@syr.edu

The Orange Value Fund, a student-run fund operated out of the Ballentine Investment Institute in the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, officially announced on Wednesday, Oct. 4, that it had completed its first closing. The fund managers will now begin making investment decisions with the $1.1 million from investors.

“The difference between teaching a student how to invest money and actually having a student invest money, and study the real life consequences of his or her investment, is night and day,” says Andrew McNeill, a junior majoring in finance at the Whitman School. “I know that the Orange Value Fund will prepare me for the finance industry in ways that a classroom experience cannot. It is programs like this that will make a Whitman degree stand out from a normal undergraduate experience. I am excited to be part of the Orange Value Fund, and eager to take what I learn and apply it after I graduate.”

Students in the Applied Portfolio Management independent study program have already started their training as portfolio managers. Included among the activities during their first semester are: Bloomberg certification, travel to New York City for a question-and-answer session with Martin J. Whitman at Third Avenue Management, LLC and a visit to the New York Mercantile Exchange. They will also attend a seminar on bank value investing by Ben Plotkin, CEO of Ryan Beck & Co. and one on mezzanine investing by Phillip Mc Neill from SPP Mezzanine Partners II. The program is supervised by Fernando Diz, the Martin J. Whitman Associate Professor of Finance and Director of the Ballentine Investment Institute.

For more information, contact Amy Mehringer, Whitman communications manager, at (315)-443-3834 or aemehrin@syr.edu.