Created by the CFA Institute, the world leader in the development and definition of academic and professional standards for the financial market, the CFA Research Challenge is the largest university Equity Research competition around the world. This competition is an opportunity to select students from different universities to develop more advanced knowledge and receive international recognition.
In the Brazilian stage, which took place in the second half of 2019, Poli Finance, for the second consecutive year, became the champion of the competition. As the winner of the national stage, the team represented Poli-USP and Brazil in the Americas stage, in which they were also crowned champions. With a continental title, the Poli Finance team was able to compete in the global stage, conquering a historical runner-up in the world championship, the best result ever achieved by a Brazilian team in the competition history.
The CFA Institute Research Challenge had, in its last edition, more than 6,400 students, representing more than 1,100 universities from 98 different countries. The outstanding results accomplished by Poli Finance in this competition brings the recognition already achieved nationally by the group to an international level.
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In 2015, Constellation Asset Management, Poli Finance’s partner, created the largest competition for evaluating companies in Brazil: Constellation Challenge.
The 2017’s edition had 715 students enrolled, of which only 30 made it to the semifinals. All Poli Finance groups reached this stage and one of our groups was a finalist.
In 2018, there were 1,101 enrolled, of which four groups from Poli Finance. All groups made it to the semifinals, three made it to the final and, for the first time, we had a representative from Poli Finance as a winner.
In the 2019 edition, the biggest of the Challenge so far, we also had significant results. There were two participating groups, both of which made it to the semifinals and one of them became Vice-Champion of the challenge.
In 2020, in the 6th year of the competition, 373 teams signed up for the challenge, representing more than 90 universities across the country. Once again, Poli Finance achieved great results, with its four groups reaching the semifinals, two of them to the final and one of them being Vice-Champion.
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BTG Pactual Experience is a competition sponsored by the bank and has some singularities in relation comparing to the others. During the two months of the competition, candidates attend in-classroom activities, pay visits to the bank, and are coached for a fine-tuning report.
The competition provides candidates with a real immersion in the bank's culture, which, together with academic and financial knowledge, aims to develop an investment thesis. In the final stage, this thesis is presented to a BTG Pactual executive board.
In the 2017 edition, the competition had more than 300 participants, divided into 85 different groups. Among these, two groups of Poli Finance were qualified for the finals and won 1st and 2nd places in the challenge. The winners were granted with a summer internship at BTG Pactual.
The Credit Suisse Awards was a competition for students from the most prestigious colleges in the country to evaluate selected companies. In the CS Awards POLI 2017 edition, the team that represented Poli Finance was a highlight for both report and presentation and became the big winner of the event. In addition to this, at the CS Awards FEA 2017, the champion group had the participation of one of our members. In 2018, members also won 1st and 2nd place in the challenge.
This competition provided a great learning opportunity. Professionals from the bank were designated as tutors for the meetings held over Credit Suisse and in addition to this, the winning groups were given the chance to meet with the bank CEO and guaranteed a place in the CFA Research Challenge for the entire team.
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The LTS Challenge is a university competition for investment analysis that brings participants closer to a team of major investors in the financial market. In 2019, the company analyzed was Square, an American fintech, and in 2020, the company chosen was Alibaba Group, a company listed on the United States and Hong Kong stock exchanges.
In the 2019 edition, the Poli Finance groups represented 4 out of the 6 finalist groups and made up to the complete podium of the competition by taking 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. In the 2020 edition, Poli Finance was a highlight again. At this time, we had 3 out of the 6 finalists of the LTS Challenge, being one of them the champion group for the second consecutive year. The winner also won the chance to participate in an international event throughout the year on Technology and Innovation with the executives who made up the evaluation panel.
Champions for the third consecutive year, Poli Finance was the winner of the LTS Challenge 2021, a competition that featured 355 groups and around 700 students. This year, the company analyzed was Disney, having been evaluated by big names in the market, such as Carlos Brito, former CEO of AB InBev, and Carlos Alberto Sicupira, one of the biggest businessmen in Brazil.
In a high-level dispute, Poli Finance had 2 groups among the 4 finalists, winning the championship with Grupo GD Capital. The award of the year was the participation in an Ivy League university training, having the opportunity to participate well-known courses, such as Value Investing at Columbia Business School.
IGC Partners was founded in 1997 and is the largest M&A boutique in Brazil, having carried out more than 200 transactions. This competition, which is also the largest university M&A competition in Brazil, had three phases. In each of these phases, the participants assumed the role of M&A professionals and advised a fictitious company in search of a new investor.
In the 2019 edition, around 100 teams signed up and only 12 of them made it to the final. Poli Finance had 2 out of these 12 finalist groups, one of which was the champion group, which earned 15,000 reais as a prize, and the other one as a third-placed. Besides, members of both groups were invited for a summer internship at IGC Partners.
Seen as a great privilege for the members of Poli Finance, this challenge has a similar format to the ones promoted by large banks, and its finals take place in the group's semiannual results conference. This is an internal event for new members who can be first confronted with competitiveness and financial market activities. Along the semester, new members are divided into groups that are tutored by professionals from partnering companies.
Besides being a great learning experience in the financing world and a great opportunity to get to know professionals in the field, this competition encourages the first contact with company analysis and investment decisions.
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