The objective of this diploma thesis is to introduce the sector of Private Equity and Venture Capital which is aimed to finance perspective companies that are not publicly traded. The first chapter presents the development of sector and main featuring players on the market. The second chapter explains phases of the investment process. The topic of the third chapter is analysis of the sector in terms of development trends and comparisom of particular types of investment as well as comparison of the main markets which are the USA and Europe. The goal of the last chapter is to present and analyze the Alternative Investment Market in London as a new market for the venture capital backed companies.

Since the international debt crisis arose in 1982, various forms of debt relief measures have been applied by international creditors to alleviate the difficulties encountered by most developing countries in meeting their financial obligations. Renegotiation of external debts within the framework of official and private creditor clubs, however, has become the widely acceptable procedure in recent years. A sine qua non to this process is the entry by a debtor state into a stand-by arrangement with the International Monetary Fund. Compliance with the terms of the stand-by arrangement is closely linked, either in a formal or informal manner, to the enforcement of bilateral loan rescheduling agreements with creditor governments and syndicated loan agreements with private commercial banks. The crux of IMF financing is a commitment by a debtor state to implement economic policies aimed at improving the latter1s balance of payments position. However, the impact of these economic austerity measures upon the political stability of the debtor's government and the living standards of its citizens has generated an attitude of reluctance among the leaders of several developing countries to consult the IMF in accordance with current renegotiation procedures. In this thesis, the writer will examine the salient legal and political issues arising from the practice of international creditors in using compliance with the terms of the IMF stand-by arrangement as a parallel condition under their loan agreements with a debtor state. Three main arguments have been considered by this writer in shedding light upon this study. Firstly, the assumption that compliance with the terms of the IMF stand-by arrangement constitutes an international obligation is not in accord with the law and practice of the IMF. Any inference of breach entailing state responsibility, therefore, is unwarranted on account of the characterization of the IMF stand-by arrangement as a non-binding instrument. Secondly, a debtor state experiencing extreme economic hardship may be justified under international law to take unilateral action having the effect of deviating from the stand-by arrangement provisions. It will be argued in particular that the principle of "freedom for payments" embodied in stand-by arrangements is subject to an exception applying the rule of a state of necessity under international law. Finally, it will be argued that the political sustainability of economic adjustment for debtor states through the stand-by arrangements could be enhanced by incorporating human rights principles as a juridical standard for adjustment policies formulated in consultation with the IMF. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate

The aim of the thesis is to provide the reader the information about the work of foundations and endowment funds in the Czech Republic. This work deals with the fiscal, financial and management accounting issues as well as contributions from the Foundation Investment Fund. Separate chapters are devoted to statutory audit of foundations and endowment funds. There is also mention of the financial support of these non-profit entities from the lottery companies. In the last part of this work there is a foundation sector survey and evaluation of publishing requirements of non-profit entities in relation to users of financial statements.

I focus on analyzing the performance of various hedge fund strategies in my diploma thesis.

Modern portfolio theory commenced the ensuing debate regarding the benefits of active versus passive management in regards to mutual funds. The two opposing mutual fund management styles claim that they produce superior risk-adjusted performance. The dissertation explores the research question: During the full 1995 to 2008 market cycle, which investment management style, active or passive, produced the better risk-adjusted performance? The significance of this historic stock market period relates to the fact it contains the two greatest bull markets (1995-1999 & 2003-2007) followed by subsequent bear markets (2000-2002 & 2008). The study tested nine hypotheses, derived from the above research question, for the 5 different time periods (1995-1999, 2000-2002, 2003-2007, 2008, and 1995-2008). Based on previous research, one would expect the passive management styles to out-perform the active styles during expansion whereas the performance would reverse during market contraction. The Sharpe composite portfolio performance measure, that combines risk and return into a single value, was used to measure, analyze, and rank risk-adjusted performance. The study, comprised of 45 statistical tests, found that on a risk-adjusted basis that the active indices (proxies for active management) Sharpe ratios were significantly greater than those of the passive indices (proxies for passive management) Sharpe ratios for; 1) the midcap blend category for the periods 1995 to 2008 and 1995 to 1999; 2) the small blend category for the periods 1995 to 2008 and 1995 to 1999, and 3) the small value category for the periods 1995 to 2008, 1995 to 1999, and 2000 to 2002. Therefore, the active indices Sharpe ratio significantly exceeded the passive indices Sharpe ratio for 16% of the statistical tests conducted while the active indices Sharpe ratio did not significantly exceed the passive indices Sharpe ratio for 84% of the statistical tests conducted. The findings suggested that in the long run passive management produced better performance results than active management.

The purpose of this study was to present an historical analysis of the function of the Literary Fund of Virginia as it pertained to public school funding. The major questions central to this study were: (a) How has the Literary Fund addressed the funding needs of the Virginia public schools? (b) What significant changes have occurred in the apportionment of Literary Fund revenue? and (c) What are the future trends of the Literary Fund? The political and social circumstances that prevailed in Virginia, prior to this funding initiative, were examined to determine what effects they had on its development. Primary documents also were examined to ascertain pertinent information for completion of this study. These included: House and Senate Journals; The Acts of the General Assembly; Virginia School Reports; Virginia Second Auditor Reports of the Literary Fund; Annual Reports of the Superintendent of Public Instruction; and the Code of Virginia. Secondary sources were used to provide background information about the historical events that helped shape the development and perpetuation of the Literary Fund. Various government officials and a former Superintendent of Public Instruction were interviewed through use of a protocol. The purpose of these interviews was to gain insight on the likely future of the Literary Fund. Their answers to questions were analyzed to determine if consistent themes could be identified. These interviews, along with historical data collected, were examined in order to provide recommendations for future consideration by the Commonwealth of Virginia relative to the use of Literary Fund revenue. / Ed. D.

This master´s thesis deals with documentation processing of project financing inquiry for employee´s qualification improvement at BDS Ltd. financed by EU´s structural funds, concretely by European social fund.

My graduation theses refers to the utilization of the grant-in-aid from the Europen Social Fund in order to create „the protected workroom“ to help and support the employment of the handicapped people. According to the entrepreneurial activity and analyses of employment of handicapped people macroeconomical factors present the situation on the labour market as well as the perspective profitability through some specific solutions.

Copy cat investment strategies exist in the US, where copy cat funds profitably replicate the investing behaviour of larger more renowned funds, leveraging off research completed by the initial fund, without incurring the same level of expenses. Funds, or unit trusts as they are known in South Africa, are mandated to disclose portfolio holdings quarterly, with the intention of enabling investors to track whether funds are meeting their stated objectives, through more frequent access to portfolio holdings. More frequent disclosure has lead to significant controversy internationally, with some researchers providing evidence that more frequent disclosure has lead to copy cat investing strategies. In contrast to the research completed in the US, copy cat funds in South Africa are able to generate similar returns, before costs, but once costs are included t-tests provided evidence that the copy cat fund was not able to generate significantly higher returns than the actual fund, particularly in the long run. These tests hold true when considering the whole general equity market, but interestingly do not hold statistically valid for every fund when considering them in isolation. Certain funds within the general equity classification offer potential for copy cat investing and have successfully proven outperformance in the last decade. Copy cat investors would need to seek out these funds based on the predicted outperformance of each fund, by considering the historical behaviour and then lastly by considering their own, already questionable, risk appetite. Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

El propósito del presente documento es el desarrollo del proyecto académico que tiene como objetivo plantear un modelo de análisis predictivo soportado por una plataforma tecnológica Cloud basada en técnicas de Machine Learning para pronosticar el fondo acumulado de un afiliado que aporte a un sistema privado de pensiones. Esto surge ante el desconocimiento sobre cómo se administran las finanzas personales en los fondos privados de pensiones representan un riesgo en el manejo del futuro de cada individuo. Esta ausencia de control en la administración del fondo de cada afiliado conlleva a no saber en todo momento a lo qué están expuestos. En la actualidad existen herramientas propias de las entidades administradoras de fondos de pensiones que permiten simular y calcular tanto el fondo como la pensión que recibirá un jubilado, sin embargo, lo que no ofrecen estas herramientas es la posibilidad de proyectar el fondo a partir de factores de crecimiento bajo criterios propios del afiliado que le otorguen la posibilidad de comprar cuál fondo voluntario de pensiones puede ser el más beneficioso al final de la vida laboral. La tecnología ha evolucionado y se aprecia grandes avances con respecto a la captura y almacenamiento de información. Una de estas tecnologías utiliza Cloud Computing, la cual ha crecido en grandes proporciones en diversas industrias y atraen la atención de comunidades de investigación debido a su potencial para implementar soluciones tecnológicas a la medida El desarrollo de este proyecto se llevará a cabo durante los ciclos académicos 2018-1 y 2018-2, realizando el análisis de tecnologías Cloud que soportan el modelo de análisis predictivo soportado por una plataforma tecnológica cloud basada en machine learning para determinar el fondo acumulado de un afiliado que aporte a un sistema privado de pensiones y el diseño del modelo tecnológico propuesto durante el ciclo 2018-1. La validación del modelo tecnológico mediante el desarrollo de la aplicación móvil, la documentación de los resultados y el plan de continuidad del proyecto en el ciclo 2018-2. / The purpose of this document is the development of the academic project that aims to propose a model of predictive analysis supported by a platform based on the cloud in the automatic learning to determine the accumulated fund in a private pension system. This arises from the lack of knowledge about how to manage personal finances in private pension funds in the management of each individual's future. This lack of control in the administration of the fund of each affiliate entails a lack of knowledge at all times. Currently, there are own tools of pension fund management entities that allow simulating and calculating both the fund and the pension that a retiree will receive, however, what these tools do not offer is the possibility of projecting the fund from Growth factors under the affiliate's own criteria that give him the possibility of buying which voluntary pension fund can be the most beneficial at the end of working life. The technology has evolved, and great advances can be seen with respect to the capture and storage of information. One of these technologies uses Cloud Computing, which has grown in large proportions in different industries and attracts the attention of research communities due to its potential to implement tailored technological solutions. The development of this project will be carried out during the 2018-1 and 2018-2 academic cycles, performing the analysis of Cloud technologies that support the predictive analysis model supported by a cloud-based technology platform in machine learning to determine the accumulated fund of an affiliate that contributes to a private pension system and the design of the technological model proposed during the 2018-1 semester. The validation of the technological model through the development of the mobile application, the documentation of the results and the plan of continuity of the project in the 2018-2 semester. / Tesis