Professor Daniel Ferreira

Professor Dirk Jenter

This course is compulsory on the MSc in Finance (full-time), MSc in Finance (full-time) (Work Placement Pathway), MSc in Finance and Private Equity and MSc in Finance and Private Equity (Work Placement Pathway). This course is not available as an outside option.

This course does not permit auditing students.

Aimed at people with a good undergraduate degree and good quantitative skills, with some knowledge of economics.

• 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 finance their activities by issuing securities (debt, equity and convertible claims) and how business policy interacts with financial policy. The aim is to understand what factors determine optimal capital structures and how the interplay of these factors affects financing decisions. 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.

60 hours of lectures in the AT.

This course is taught in an interactive lecturing format. There is no distinction between lectures and classes/seminars; there are “sessions” only, and the pedagogical approach in each session is interactive.

Regular homework will be completed as part of the formative assessment for this course.

The recommended textbook for this course is Berk and DeMarzo, Corporate Finance. Other recommended readings will be included in a study pack.

Continuous assessment (100%) in the AT.