Corporate Finance in Global Firms

Course Director: Diogo Mendes

Purpose
Finance is at the core of so many business decisions that no CEO aspirant can afford to avoid schooling in it. This course provides a framework for analyzing the major types of investment and financing decisions faced by managers in global corporations, including investment, capital budgeting and project valuation, capital structure, IPOs, M&A, etc. We will develop key financial concepts and tools. We will also devote a session to understand the concept of sustainable finance. A good knowledge of the topics in this course is important for students considering a career in corporate management, consulting, investment banking, private equity, or venture capital.

Besides the theoretical approach, in every lecture we will analyze real cases based on recent financial news (e.g., in previous years we discussed the GameStop short squeeze or Netflix stock price plunge). The course also features guest presentations by respected Swedish financial decision makers.

The course is designed to:

1. cover core topics in corporate finance,
2. address intermediate concepts such as international corporate finance, M&A, or sustainability,
3. use the tools learnt in class to understand real-life corporate, micro- or macro-economic events.

Crash Course
There will be three optional preparatory sessions covering the prerequisites before the course starts for students with no background in finance/statistics/accounting. Students with little background in these topics are strongly advised to attend the preparatory sessions.

Canvas Course Webpage
All course materials are available in the Canvas course webpage. In case of inconsistent information, the one in Canvas prevails.

Course Administrators: Nicola.Donohoe@hhs.se Kirandeep.Saini@hhs.se

After completing the course, you should be able to:

1. Value projects, financial instruments (bonds and stocks), and firms using suitable techniques.
2. Understand key inputs in the Capital Asset Pricing Model and estimate cost of capital for firms.
3. Critically evaluate the choice of capital structure of firms and its impact.
4. Evaluate specific financial deals such as IPO (initial public offering), SEO (secondary equity offering) and M&A (mergers and acquisitions) in the context of international capital markets.
5. Understand the achievements and future challenges of the financial sector in the race for sustainability.
6. Understand and feel encouraged to follow major corporate, micro- or macro-economic news.

Students are assumed to have sound knowledge of accounting and basic statistics, and to know how to use spreadsheet software (e.g., Microsoft Excel). You should attend the ‘Crash Course’ and read chapters 1-5 of the textbook before the course starts if you haven’t taken any accounting or finance course, and get familiar with the concepts of mean, standard deviation, variance, covariance, and correlation if you haven’t taken any statistics course.

1. Textbook: Corporate Finance, by Berk and DeMarzo, Pearson Global Edition, 6th Edition.
2. Case Studies and Readings: Cases and additional assigned readings (including optional readings) will be uploaded to the download folder of the course website.
3. Other References: The following websites are useful reference: Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Yahoo Finance

Assessment
Individual Exercises (5%) - There will be three mandatory individual assignments that work as a self-evaluation tool. Each student should submit one set of answers electronically, but discussion among students is encouraged. Individual feedback will be provided, and solutions will be discussed in the seminars.

Group Assignment (25%) – There will be two group assignment (TBC). The group assignments have the objective to lead the students to build operative Excel-based models for portfolio analysis. Additionally, they contribute to the understanding of particular financial dimensions of a real company as well as some of its main corporate events. Groups will present their work in a presentation session by the end of the term.

Final Examination (70%) - The final exam is closed book. No formulae will be provided but students are allowed to bring an A4-size sheet by themselves. Financial calculators are not needed, but a regular (scientific) calculator is necessary.

Find the course schedule in TimeEdit

Have you been granted educational support because of a documented disability? If so, please contact the course director as soon as possible so that adequate accommodations can be made.

Contact specialneeds@hhs.se if you have questions about being granted educational support or need a copy of your educational support certificate.

For more information, visit the Specific Educational Needs page on the Student Hub (login required).