Many of you are aware of Mark's battle with cancer over the last year. Unfortunately, his cancer has not responded to treatment, and the doctors have stopped treatment. He and his family are now in Minnesota where he is receiving hospice care.

A group of faculty with the help of friends and alumni hopes to establish a scholarship fund to honor Mark.  We want Mark and his family to know that many of us are thinking about them and are striving to create something positive to provide a perpetual benefit for students.

If you would like to support the scholarship, please let us know.  In addition to providing financial support, please let others know that such a scholarship fund is being established.

Because of time is short and we want to let Mark know about the scholarship, we are looking for commitments in the form of pledges or contributions now.  The School can accept checks, payable to the KU Endowment Association (Hirschey Scholarship).  Any amount is welcome and appreciated.

We will provide the names, without amounts, of those who contribute. If you prefer to remain anonymous, please indicate that when you make your commitment.

If you prefer to contribute on-line with a credit card, you may use this link.  There is no fee for using a credit card.  Be sure to enter "Hirschey Scholarship".  You may also call Shari Mohr with KU Endowment at 888-653-6111.

April 12, 2010 - Assistant PMs: Michael Moore, Thomas John, Spenser Samms, Shawn Jung, Rachel Berry, John Marshall

Bill Koehler is Chief Investment Officer at ETF Portfolio Solutions and has over 26 years experience in the asset management industry.  His job functions include investment policy, portfolio management, and capital markets research.  Koehler detailed how Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) will ultimately take over mutual funds as a low-cost source of diversification.  He refers to ETFs as hybrid securities, because they contain attributes of both index mutual funds and common stock.  Specifically, like shares of stock, ETFs are traded throughout the day and are thus very liquid instruments relative to mutual funds.  He also said that they are a suitable investment vehicle for all types of portfolios, both taxable and tax-deferred, including IRAs, 529s, and 401(k) plans. 

April 19, 2010 - Assistant PMs: Michael Moore, Thomas John, Spenser Samms, Shawn Jung, Rachel Berry, John Marshall

The APM class was able to get outside and take a tour of KU's baseball stadium, Hoagland Ballpark. We also toured the McCarthy Family Clubhouse. The tour was arranged by our APM class member and KU pitcher, TJ Walz.  We received a full tour of the stadium, including the locker room, the club box, and the field.  We all posed for a class picture on the deck of the McCarthy Family Clubhouse.  It was a fun half hour in the sun and a much enjoyed break from class!  We congratulate TJ for being drafted by the Oakland Athletics!

April 19, 2010 - Group 1: Matt Goehausen, Robert Hite, Yi Cai, Doug Johnson

Andrew Limbocker (APM S06), Senior Financial Analyst at Entertainment Properties Trust (EPR), visited class on April 19.  He provided the class with an overview of his company and discussed his role there.  He was hired by EPR in 2008 to provide the company more financial expertise with a focus on analyzing its continuing operations.

EPR is a real estate investment trust (REIT) spun off from AMC Theatres in 1997 as a way to enter into sale-leasebacks with AMC.  It initially invested solely in movie theatres. Recently the company added other entertainment-related properties including retail centers, metropolitan ski areas, and wineries.  Last year, EPR provided even more diversification to its portfolio with the addition of charter schools.  At the end of 2009, its properties were 87% occupied.

EPR looks at five investment principles when considering investment opportunities: Inflection Opportunity, Enduring Value, Excellent Execution, Attractive Economics, and Advantageous Position.  It also considers rent coverage ratios to be an important metric to evaluate properties. EPR prefers ratios of 2x rent.  EPR's current properties have an average rent coverage ratio of 1.6.  Limbocker said the REIT is willing to explore any property that meets these criteria.  However, he said in the future EPR would like to focus its growth on its core strength of theatres properties, as well as charter schools.  They also prefer to buy properties instead of developing new ones.  EPR has had its biggest wins with its theatre properties. None of its theatre tenants have ever missed a payment.  Limbocker added, "People have been predicting the demise of movie theatres for years but box office numbers continue to grow and have never gone down."  Theatres have proven to be recession proof with box office revenues are up 11% year-to-date.

As a class, the general consensus was that we very much liked EPR's theatre business but were less enthused by the other segments. As such we were glad to hear that theatres are the REIT's main focus. Limbocker was very enthusiastic about the charter schools' prospects and felt this area was a key growth opportunity.  Though the case reports were split between buy, sell and hold recommendations, Limbocker's visit was able to convince the APM class that EPR is a solid investment.  The class elected to purchase 500 shares of EPR common stock which now comprise 2.1% of the APM portfolio, as of 4/21/2010.  Going forward, it will be important to watch how EPR's investments outside of its core competencies pan out and to keep an eye on the theatre industry, though it has consistently proved resilient.

The APM Portfolio ended the quarter down 15.4 percent. The best performers were Launchtech (HK:8196), up 1.7%, Kansas City Southern(KSU) up 0.5% and Ryanair (RYAAY), down -0.29%.

	Q2 2010	Last 4 Quarters	3 Year	5 Year	10 Year
SP500	-11.9	12.1	-11.8	-2.9	-3.4
SP600	-9.0	22.2	-8.8	-0.3	4.5
NASDAQ	-12.0	14.9	-6.8	0.5	-6.1
APM	-15.4	3.7	-13.9	3.7	12.4