HFAC Gets Green Investment Grant

The Harvard Financial Analysts Club is in the final stages of negotiation for a contract that would grant the club $100,000 dollars to use in its new Cleantech Investment Fund.

Under the tentative conditions of the current contract, the team of Cleantech Investment researchers, led by Samir Patel ’12, will submit potential investment proposals for final approval to prominent businessman Peter van Stolk, who is providing the funding.

Patel said that the fund will target a variety of different clean technology investments, though not necessarily research.

Lukas W. Roots ’11­­, co-president of HFAC and a member of the Crimson IT Board, said that the grant will be used for investments with a two to four year time frame.

Unlike HFAC’s current $32,000 equity fund, the new grant will allow members to make investments in any class of assets, according to Roots.

“From our perspective, one of the major advantages of this fund is that it provides HFAC the opportunity to teach its members about bonds, derivatives and other investments, which we couldn’t do with the current fund,” Roots said.

Roots added that HFAC will keep a percentage of the profits from their

investments, to be determined by their final contract.

Simon Pickup, a former member of the Jones Soda Youth Advisory Board and an associate of van Stolk, approached HFAC last fall with a proposition to start the Cleantech Investment Fund, according to Patel.

Roots said that former HFAC President Tracey C. Shi ’10 and current co-president Prateek Kumar ’11 began negotiations with van Stolk last November.

“This allows us a new opportunity to develop investment strategies based on what has been learned not only in our Comp process but also in lecture halls,” wrote Patel in an e-mailed statement. “The degree of independence in this venture will provide HFAC members with a great financial experience.”

According to Roots, the Cleantech Investment Fund will also be larger than the funds managed by other Harvard finance and investment clubs.

HFAC members said the fund will be operational in the near future, though they refused to disclose further details due to their confidentiality policy.

Van Stolk’s grant will last for one year according to the terms of the contract, but will be renegotiated each year.

Van Stolk could not be reached for comment.

—Staff Writer Tara W. Merrigan can be reached at tmerrigan@college.harvard.edu.