Sigma Investments - "Bridging the gap between theory and practice”
Sigma InvestmentsSigma Investments is the student investment club of the School of Business and Economics of Maastricht University. Sigma Investment was founded in 1976 by students of Maastricht University, it has since been Sigma’s goal to bridge the gap between theoretical academia and the world of professional finance. Due to legal limitations Sigma had to change its structure in 2001. Ever since there have been two managed portfolios of about the same weight. Sigma Investments cooperates with several other associations of the School of Business and Economics, especially Scope Focus (former: FS Focus. former: Future). Because Sigma Investments has a long history, the industry ties and alumni database have improved over the years. Sigma Investment tries to bring financial markets closer to students. To achieve this objective, we hold weekly meetings in which we present industries and companies to give students the opportunity to invest their own money in one of our portfolios.
The Meetings
The regular meetings of Sigma Investments take place every Tuesday, starting at 7p.m. at the School of Business and Economics. Normally, the members meet 5 minutes before the start of the meeting in front of the entrance or at the reception desk of the faculty. Since 2011 the structure of the meetings has changed. First, an overview of the most important news headlines, commodity prices, indexes and sectors is provided to the members. Second, a so called "macro - proposal" is presented, covering an interesting financial product, sector or industry. Third, a so called "micro - proposal", a detailed presentation on a specific topic of last week's macro presentation, is presented. During the second hour, the two portfolios start discussing the proposals separately, decide on the proposals and take a look at the portfolio performance. After the meetings the members of all study associations get together at the Preuverij.
Membership
Sigma Investments consists of 2 portfolios, respectively portfolio 1 and portfolio 2. Both portfolios can have a maximun number of participants equal to 25. Every participant must invest at least 500 euro in one of the portfolios in order to get a right to vote on a proposal. The majority principle is used, meaning that if the majority of the votes in one portfolio in favor or against a proposal, the voting is binding. Of course it is also possible to visit Sigma as a visitor. A visitor can participate in the meetings and activities organized by Sigma Investments. A visitor is not allowed to vote on a proposal during the voting procedure, this is the only limitation for a visitor. Visitors are always welcome to visit one of the meetings, an appointment is not required.
