FM422
Corporate Finance
This information is for the 2017/18 session.
Teacher responsible
Professor Amil Dasgupta
Dr Dirk Jenter
Availability
This course is compulsory on the MSc in Finance (full-time) and MSc in Finance and Private Equity. This course is not available as an outside option.
Pre-requisites
Aimed at people with a good undergraduate degree and good quantitative skills, with some knowledge of economics.
Course content
- Financing
- Valuation
This core course provides a broad introduction to the key issues in corporate finance. The first half of the course, the Financing Module, investigates how companies should finance their activities by issuing securities (debt, equity and convertible claims) and the interaction of business policy with financial policy. The aim is to understand what factors determine optimal capital structure and how the interplay of these factors can affect financing decisions in a way that creates value. The second half of the course, the Valuation Module, covers firm and project valuation and establishes how companies should select among investable assets. The module focuses on fundamental valuation techniques based on discounting future cash flows. The course goes on to introduce further valuations methods, such as real options analysis, as well as key applications of valuation concepts to major corporate decisions such as mergers and acquisitions and initial public offerings. The course interweaves key conceptual material with a series of cases.
Teaching
60 hours of lectures in the MT.
Formative coursework
Regular classworks will be completed, handed in and marked as part of formative assessment for this course.
Indicative reading
The recommended textbooks for this course are Berk and DeMarzo, Corporate Finance and Higgins, Analysis for Financial Management. Other recommended readings from relevant journal articles will be included in a study pack.
Assessment
Exam (80%, duration: 3 hours) in the main exam period.
In class assessment (20%) in the MT.
Key facts
Department: Finance
Total students 2016/17: 159
Average class size 2016/17: 78
Controlled access 2016/17: Yes
Value: One Unit
Personal development skills
- Team working
- Problem solving
- Communication
- Application of numeracy skills
- Commercial awareness
- Specialist skills