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Education
Investment Fund passes Alcon stock purchase Members of the Education Investment Fund approved the purchase of Alcon Laboratories stock at their meeting Thursday, marking a return of Alcon to EIF’s portfolio. In 1973, EIF was started when Alcon co-founder William C. Connor donated $600,000 worth of Alcon stock to the M.J. Neeley School of Business. The fund is now worth nearly $1.6 million. EIF meets every Tuesday and Thursday, where students review stock holdings and make suggestions for future purchases. Students typically make three presentations their first semester as an EIF member, and two their second semester, including proposing the purchase of stock in a new company. Finance professor Stanley Block was the original advisor of the fund and still advises the fund. Block said the fund initially lost money in a weak early 1970s economy, but when Nestle bought out Alcon in 1978, they turned a profit. Since then, Alcon had been off of the public market until March, when Nestle decided to unload 25 percent of their Alcon holdings, and the company filed its registration statement for an initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Alcon CEO Tim Sear was scheduled to speak to the class last Tuesday, but had to cancel at the last second when it was realized that Alcon was still observing its SEC mandated quiet period that follows an IPO. Mohit Punj, who is working on his masters of business administration, said a percentage of the portfolio’s value is donated even if the fund lost money that year. “The good thing about this fund is that every year we give a percent of the money of the cash value of this fund to Baylor (Medical School’s Department of Ophthalmology),” Punj said. “That’s why our fund isn’t as big as some others in the country.” Francis Polisetty, an MBA student, gave a report, which detailed the financial pros and cons of Alcon, the global leader in manufacturing of eye care products, and recommended EIF acquire the stock. The purchase of Fort Worth based Alcon will make the firm the first local company to be a part of EIF’s portfolio, Block said. “We’d like to invest in local companies, but Alcon’s the only one that fits that description right now,” Block said. EIF consists of a group of top business students, both undergraduates and graduates, who intend to pursue careers in the financial marketplace. The students must be accepted into the fund, and stay as members for two semesters. Block said there had been more than 750 students who had been a part of EIF, including 30 who currently work on Wall Street. Besides Polisetty’s Alcon presentation, senior finance major Brandon Chase gave a presentation on Citigroup, Inc. and recommended that EIF hold onto all shares. Sam
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