UA Opens Vulcan Value Partners Research Library and Trading Room

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Vulcan Value Partners Research Library and Trading Room will open with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 2 p.m. Friday, March 10, outside 203 Bidgood Hall in the Culverhouse College of Commerce on The University of Alabama campus.

The complex is the result of a $3 million gift by Culverhouse alumnus C.T. Fitzpatrick and his wife, Kelley. They will be in attendance at the ceremony.

The Fitzpatricks’ donation created the Vulcan Value Partners Research Library and Trading Room as well as an endowed chair in value investing. The space will serve as a home to the Culverhouse Investment Management Group and the value investing specialization.

“This research library and trading room will equip our students with real-world experience making live trades and giving them a strong advantage as they enter the work force,” said Dr. Kay M. Palan, dean of the Culverhouse College of Commerce.

The area features a live stock ticker as well as an extensive array of financial research tools, including Bloomberg terminals and meeting areas for students to confer on their stock picks.

“This is an opportunity for the University to create something special that isn’t found elsewhere,” said John Heins, Fitzpatrick Professor of Value Investing and the director of the value-investing program. “The Vulcan Value Partners Library creates a first-class environment for students to collaborate on first-class work.”

Value investing, the basic concepts of which were first articulated by investor Benjamin Graham and then later popularized by Warren Buffett, focuses on identifying investment opportunities in companies whose rigorously determined share value is deemed to be much higher than the current share price on the stock market, Heins said. Value investors seek to benefit as their analysis is borne out and the gap between value and price eventually closes.

The Culverhouse Investment Management Group’s portfolio began with donations totaling $315,000 from Culverhouse alumni, with the group making its initial investment in October of 2009. Currently, CIMG manages over $500,000 of the University’s endowment.

Fitzpatrick’s company, Vulcan Value Partners, has been featured in Business Week, the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. The partnership is based in Birmingham. Kelley Fitzpatrick, a Tuscaloosa native, is the former Kelley Manderson. The Manderson Graduate School of Business at Culverhouse is named for her father, Lewis Manderson.

Fitzpatrick has been instrumental in establishing value investing as an academic program at Culverhouse. He is actively involved with CIMG which won the prestigious regional CFA Institute Research Challenge and brought home the Ridgeworth Cup trophy.