CASES IN BUSINESS LAW
Instructional goals
The course aims at providing students with a comprehensive knowledge of the main elements of business law – including corporate law and securities regulation - in order to enable them to recognize in the future the main issues generally arising from such kind of business transactions.
The course deals also with practical structures and implications, looking at the actual transactions consummated in the international market context.
In particular, the course pursues the following specific objectives:
- to give students a knowledge and understanding of the main elements of corporate law, banking, insurance and securities regulation, also on an international basis;
- to give students an understanding of the corporate issues concerning Italian listed companies;
- to increase awareness and understanding of the main items regarding corporate governance, with specific regard to banks, insurance companies, financial intermediaries and listed companies;
- to learn and apply skills developed during the course also moving from the significant cases discussed during the classes.
Intended learning outcomes
At the end of the course, students should have an overview of the most controversial topics regarding business law and they should be able to:
- understand and describe the main arguments analyzed during the classes (Knowledge and understanding);
- analyze and explain the issues connected to the matters discussed during the course (Applying knowledge and understanding);
- understand and use major terms and concepts in order to communicate ideas, proposals, analysis and critical reasoning in the field of business law in the most effective and appropriate way (Communications Skills).
Course Contents
The course deals with the following contents:
- preliminary introduction on the main Italian and European business laws and regulations, with particular focus on listed companies and financial institutions;
- financial markets’ dynamics, principles, players and main rules;
- regulation on the issuers of listed financial instruments;
- transactions in control;
- related parties’ transactions and conflict of interests
- market abuse regulation and insider trading;
- extraordinary transactions;
- cross-border transactions;
- golden powers’ and foreign direct investments regulation;
- corporate governance rules and best practices;
- Italian and European corporate and securities law: trends and perspectives.
Reference Books
VV. AA., Commentaries and Cases on Italian Business Law, directed by A. Sacco Ginevri, CEDAM, III ed., 2025
Please refer to the content of each lecture for details on the book’s chapters associated to each single week as indicated during the course.
Teaching Methods
Traditional lectures, weekly case discussions and weekly written assessments.
Assessment Method
1/3 of the final grade will be determined based on active participation to classes, weekly case discussions and weekly written assessments (continuous assessment).
The remaining 2/3 of the final grade will be determined based on (1) the mid-term written exam and (2) the final oral exam on certain selected topics treated during the entire course.
The mid-term written exam is not mandatory and will consist in 3 open-ended questions on matters discussed during the classes until the date of the mid-term exam.
All the students – including those who took the mid-term written exam – shall take the final oral exam.
The combination of continuous assessment (one-third) and the exam (two-thirds) is valid only in the examination dates scheduled at the end of the semester in which the course is taught. In subsequent examination sessions (retake sessions), students are evaluated exclusively through a single final examination (100%), thus losing the continuous assessment grade.
Students who are exempted from compulsory attendance or are non-compliant, shall take a final examination that corresponds to 100% of the overall evaluation, and which is based on an appropriate study load that can compensate for the missed knowledge acquisition over the semester.
Thesis assignment criteria
The formal request for the final dissertation could be filed by students who achieved an high final score at the end of the course (more than
28/30) and demonstrated during the course attitude in analyzing business cases and materials also from a practical perspective.
Any request will be discussed with the Professor and accepted if the above mentioned criteria are satisfied.
Week 1
- Preliminary course introduction;
- general overview on the functioning of the capital markets and applicable Italian and European laws.
Reference chapter(s): 1.
Week 2
Starting up a business:
- establishing a company;
- article of Association and shareholders' agreement;
- functions of the share capital;
- differences between equity and debt;
- transactions on share capital.
Cases discussion:
- the KR Energy case (Court of Milan, January 3, 2018);
- the Edil Work 2 S.r.l. and S.T. S.r.l v STE S.a.r.l. case.
Reference chapter(s): 2, 3 and 4.
Week 3
Groups of companies:
- different notions of corporate control;
- direction and coordination activity;
- information flows within the corporate group.
Case discussion:
Consob Communication No. DCG/0079962 of October 9, 2013 on Isagro S.p.A.
Reference chapter(s): 6, 7 and 17.
Week 4
Extraordinary transactions:
- mergers and demergers.
Cases discussion:
- merger by incorporation of Unipol Assicurazioni, Premafin and Milano Assicurazioni into Fondiaria-SAI completed on January 6, 2014;
- cross-border merger between ENI Insurance S.p.A. and Eni Insurance D.A.C. completed on December 18, 2024.
Reference chapter(s): 8 and from 23 to 26.
Week 5
Take-over bids:
- ownership structures;
- regulation of the take-over bids;
- mandatory take-over vs voluntary take-over;
- persons acting in concert;
- loyalty shares.
Cases discussion:
- Consob Communication of April 18, 2019 no. 0214548;
- public exchange offer launched by Unicredit on the German company Commerzbank.
Reference chapter(s): 5, 11 and 12.
Week 6
Corporate governance of listed companies in Italy and in Europe.
Case discussion:
the Banco BPM case.
Reference chapter(s): 16 and from 18 to 22.
Week 7
Delisting of listed companies:
- mechanisms to take private.
Case discussion:
the AS Roma delisting case.
Reference chapter(s): 13.
Mid-term written exam.
Week 8
Conflict of interests and related party transactions:
- implications of tunneling for corporate finance;
- regulation of related parties’ transactions;
- the role of financial advisors in the context of related parties’ transactions.
Case discussion:
the Parmalat case (Court of Parma, March 29, 2013).
Reference
chapter(s): 27.
Week 9
Market abuse regulation:
- corporate disclosure and market protection;
- European market abuse regulation and Italian legal framework;
- due diligence on listed companies and equal treatment rule;
- insider trading and market manipulation.
Case discussion:
the Cremonini case (Court of Cassazione, October 16, 2017, no. 24310).
Reference chapter(s): 14.
Week 10
M&A Transactions and Foreign Direct Investments:
- most common practices and activities in cross-border and domestic M&A transactions;
- Italian Regulation on “golden powers”;
- the European framework on FDI screening;
- U.S. regulation on FDI;
- trends, tools and perspectives.
Cases discussion:
- the Vivendi / TIM case;
- the Xella case.
Reference chapter(s): 15, 28 and 31.
Week 11
Role and functions of the board committees and ESG factors and sustainability finance:
- Italian and European regulation on ESG factors;
- Italian and European regulatory architecture on sustainability;
- climate change litigation.
Cases discussion:
- the Monte dei Paschi di Siena case;
- the Milieudefensie et al. v. Royal Dutch Shell case.
Reference chapter(s): 21.
Week 12
Cyber SecutiryMarket and consumer protection.
Reference chapter(s): 32 and 33.
Final review of the main topics.
Rules for the exam.
Questions.