21210146 - Advanced Corporate Finance

To complete and deepen/improve the theoretical and practical fundamentals of corporate finance provided in the under-graduate course of Corporate Finance, in order to develop competences and skills for understanding the capital markets functioning, the investment and financing decisions of non-financial firms, their ownership structure and their corporate governance systems. The course includes the following items:
1. the decision theory under uncertainty and the measurement of risk premium
2. financial options: definitions, typologies, fundamentals and pricing
3. contingent claim theory applied to corporate finance:
a. models à la Merton for estimating the credit risk
b. options and agency costs
c. real options for evaluating investments/companies
d. credit derivatives and CDS
4. economics and finance of M&As
5. beyond the Capital Asset Pricing Model: advanced formulations and multifactor models for estimating the cost of capital
6. determinants of capital structure choice: theories and empirical evidence
7. financial structure of the Italian firms, in comparison with European and US companies
8. IPOs and relevant implications
9. systems of corporate governance in Italy, Continental Europe and USA/World: international comparisons
10. finance of small business.

scheda docente | materiale didattico

Programma

A) Investment decisions
1. decision theory under uncertainty and risk premium measures
2. financial options: theory, pricing models, risk-return
3. contingency theory analysis applied to corporate finance: a) corporate capital in terms of options, betas and debt agency costs; b) risk-credit models à la Merton; c) credit derivatives and credit default swap (CDS)
4. real options: types (growth, scope-down, downsizing, defer-learn, etc.), valuation techniques and examples in evaluation of investment projects and firms
5. mergers and acquisitions: theory, determinants, international empirical evidence, performance

B) Financing decisions
1. key determinants of the capital structure choice
2. international empirical evidence: research strands and main empirical findings
3. international comparisons on real corporate financial structure, worldwide
4. IPOs and main features
5. dividend policy: theories and financing relationships

C) How to measure the cost of capital
1. CAPM
2. impact of indebtedness
3. extension of CAPM in imperfect markets and how to empirically test CAPM
3. beyond CAPM: multi-factor models

D) Ownership models and corporate governance systems
1. types of ownership and CG system
2. cross-country and trend comparative analysis about CG systems in USA, Europe and World and respective empirical evidence
3. the finance of small business.

Testi Adottati

1. Berk J., De Marzo P., 2018, Finanza aziendale 1, IV edizione, Pearson, capp.17 (incluse le Appendici), 18 e §§ 13.1, 13.6, 13.7 (pp.496-497)
2. Berk J., De Marzo P., Morresi O., Venanzi D., 2018, Finanza aziendale 2 –Teoria e pratica della finanza moderna, Pearson, capp. 1-2 (solo §§ 2.1, 2.3, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7)-3-4-6-7-10-13-14 e § 12.8.

In addition, slides, notes, exercises, cases, data and other teaching materials provided from the teacher on the course website (the requested passwords are provided). The program includes the exercises/problems and other materials at the end of textbook chapters or downloadable from both course and textbook websites.

Modalità Valutazione

individual written exam with true/false questions and exercises/problems to solve individual oral exam (access if minimum score 18/30 in the written exam) by means of theoretical and practical questions.