Munich Business School Launches MBS Empowerment Fund

various piles of coins getting higher from left to right and a jar full of coins with a graduate hat on it

Following the American model where universities have a long tradition in raising third-party funds, Munich Business School is now presenting its very own MBS Empowerment Fund.


The idea of introducing an investment fund originates with MBS lecturer Prof. Dr. Laurenz Czempiel. He not only has profound expertise in the finance and banking sector, but has also been a professor for international finance at MBS since 1995. In 2017, together with MBS alumnus Artur Kampik, Prof. Dr. Laurenz Czempiel founded the company LeanVal Invest, which serves as the idea generator and strategy advisor behind the MBS Empowerment Fund.

MBS Empowerment Fund represents new form of fundraising

The goal of the fund is to generate a return that benefits both MBS and the investors. MBS alumni or other supporters become investors by purchasing the public fund. MBS receives a remuneration of 2% per annum from Conservative Concept Portfolio Management AG (CCPM), the asset manager of LeanVal Invest, for the transfer of its name, which is paid from the management fee of 2.75%. This means that the investors support Munich Business School and its projects with a significant portion of the management fee. However, this concept is not a permanent transfer of assets – as is the case with endowments or gifts – but a new type of fundraising. The revenues that MBS receives are used to establish or support worthy projects. This includes, for example, need-based scholarships for students, the creation of new professorships or the support of student projects.

Investors receive both financial and emotional returns

Apart from a financial return, which is calculated from the positive average increase in value of the fund over the years – after inflation and deduction of the annual donation to the university – there is also a “emotional return” for the investors. This “emotional return” is initially made possible by the investors and subsequently arises from the positive impact of the support projects carried out by MBS.

The investment concept of the MBS Empowerment Fund is also based on American universities, which traditionally use their funds to finance university activities.In addition to shares, these so-called endowment funds also rely on alternative investments such as real estate or hedging transactions in order to achieve a more stable return in the medium to long term than the classic investment strategy. For the MBS Empowerment Fund, this approach was modified in terms of liquidity and risk and tailored to European investors. The fund thus offers access to an innovative investment product with balanced relationship between opportunity and risk for the investor.

You would like to invest? Then you can find more information about the MBS Empowerment Fund here.

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