ADVANCED CORPORATE FINANCE

ADVANCED CORPORATE FINANCE

Rosella Santella

Instructional goals

The course has the objective to lead students to build operative,Excelbased models for capital budgeting decisions, bond and stock valuation, calculation of the cost of capital, company valuation. To reach this objective, the course will strengthen the theoretical and methodological bases of the students and present data cases to apply theories and methods to real world problems.

Intended learning outcomes

Knowledge and understanding The course will strengthen the theoretical and methodological foundations of advanced topics in corporate finance. It will offer also practical tools to manage real financial problems. Applying knowledge and understanding Students will be able to assess the role of the financial manager and the impact of his decisions on company’s value creation process, to apply Investment decision making techniques, within different scenarios and uncertainty; to apply the main analytical tools, functions and online resources for business and financial modeling. Making judgements Students are expected to acquire the ability to collect and interpret real financial data in order to deal with investment decision analysis and to judge company’s value creation process. The Course will lead students to solve and manage real business cases both at Corporate and Business levels. Communications Skills Students will develop the ability to communicate the problem solving and the financial analysis both in written form (texts and exercises) and in oral form by attending individual and group teaching activities. The enhancement of written and oral communication skills will be also encouraged by the optional participation in group work and business cases’ analysis during the Course. The communication skills will in particular be oriented to the critical analysis and solution of financial management problems within the company in different economic and business contexts, as well as to the development of active and critical comparisons with respect to the business issues addressed. Learning skills Students will acquire the knowledge and analysis tools that will allow them to deal with financial problems in a complex and dynamic context. Students will acquire the basic theoretical and practical knowledge to act as independent financial analyst. They will be able to develop discernment skills of the various problems relating to investments and the acquisition of financial resources by companies following strictly financial logics; these skills will be preparatory to the development of further advanced specialized knowledge which can be acquired through both further studies foreseen in the Degree Program and the learning experiences in the workplace.

Course Contents

ADVANCED CAPITAL BUDGETING 1) Free cash flow models 2) Sensitivity analysis VALUING BONDS AND STOCKS 1) Valuing bonds 2) Valuing stocks RISK AND THE COST OF CAPITAL 1) Capital markets and the pricing of risk 2) Applications and estimation of Capital asset pricing model CAPITAL STRUCTURE AND VALUATION 1) WACC 2) Adjusted Present Value 3)Flow to Equity 4) Business Valuation

Reference Books

Berk, J., & DeMarzo, P. (2020). Corporate Finance (Fifth, Global Ed.). Pearson link: https://luiss.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/openurl?institution=39LLUISSGC_INST&rfr_id=info:sid%2Fsummon&rft_dat=ie%3D5174578570004196,language%3DEN&svc_dat=CTO&u.ignore_date_coverage=true&vid=39LLUISSGC_INST:Services

Teaching Methods

The course is structured into online and on campus sessions focused on the following learning levels: • Theory: the presentation of the main financial issues, rules and techniques • Applied theory, that is a focus on practical application of the financial rules in real contexts • Practice, that is, the ability to solve financial problems and to test the techniques presented. In addition to that, classroom exercises, data cases, assignments and external professional guests will complete the educational offer. In details, sessions will focus on: - traditional lectures - individual exercices - cases studies - presentations and assignments - computer lab sessions

Assessment Method

Student's assessment is composed by - Final Written Exam (30%) - Mid term Exam (30%) - project work (40%) The written exam is targeted at appraising the theoretical and practical comprehension of the topics covered. The evaluation will be based on the assessment of the knowledge of the theoretical contents and on the students capability to apply them for the solution of practical financial problems, multiple choice questions and open questions. Students’ participation during lectures is strongly encouraged. Detailed info will be available during the first session of the course

Thesis assignment criteria

Only students that have passed the exam can apply for the "thesis assignment process" Students have to prepare a research proposal based on a short presentation (maximum 3000 words in .doc) which must include: - Object (research question, business scope/market or industry/product or service) - Research objective - Literature review - Main contribution of the research - Research Method/Data Collection Proposals should be submitted not later than 2 weeks before the administrative deadline for thesis assignment set by the University

Week 1

Course Presentation Fundamentals of capital budgeting: an introduction (VAN,IRR and FCF) Fundamentals of capital budgeting: Free cash flow models theory and practice

Week 2

Break even analysis and sensitivity Exercises Lab session on capital budgeting

Week 3

Case study on capital budgeting Business Valuation and Financial Models: The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) and the Flow to Equity (FTE) Method Exercises

Week 4

Business Valuation: The multiples Method Excercises and insights

Week 5

Stock valuation theory and practice

Week 6

Business Valuation Case the estimation of cost of capital

Week 7

The estimation of cost of capital: CAPM parameters Beta Estimation References (mandatory): Damodaran papers provided by the instructors

Week 8

The estimation of cost of capital .

Week 9

Bond valuation: theory and practice

Week 10

Capital budgeting with leverage

Week 11

Capital budgeting with leverage: The Avco Case Business Valuation: advanced topics

Week 12

Exam simulation Business Valuation: advanced topics Group presentations