Program Announcement 2013 - 14 - Institute of Business ...

Description of Coursesand commodities, either directly or through funds offunds. The course will combine theory with empiricalexercises, allowing students to get a "hands-on"experience. We want to see what the return-riskcharacteristics of alternative investments are, whatattributes to their appeal, and how to construct aportfolio using them.FIN308 Real Estate Investments: Analysis andFinancingThe course examines debt and equity financing forresidential and commercial real estate properties. Theobjective of the course is to establish a solid foundationin the fundamentals of real property valuation andunderwriting, as well as an understanding of the variousdebt and equity financing alternatives available and inuse in the capital markets. The course will also examinelender and investor perspectives on risk and rewardacross property types.FIN310 International BankingThis course aims at providing students with anunderstanding of the operating environments ofinternational banking institutions. The course will lookat the nature and theory of international banking, themajor functions of international banking (internationaltrade financing, participation in the interbank foreignexchange and Eurocurrency markets, internationalinvestment banking services, and sovereign lending),and other important issues (international moneylaundering, international banking crisis, regulation ofinternational banking, international debt crisis, andoffshore banking markets). The course will also includea discussion of international monetary law - primarily,the law and guidelines established by the InternationalMonetary Fund and Bank for International Settlements.FIN312 Behavioral FinanceThis course describes how individuals and firms makefinancial decisions, and how those decisions mightdeviate from those predicted by traditional financial oreconomic theory. Students explore the existence ofpsychological biases in financial decision-making, andexamine the impacts of these biases in financialmarkets and other financial settings. The courseexamines how the insights of behavioral financecomplements the traditional finance paradigm.FIN315 Corporate RestructuringCorporate restructuring involves any substantial changein a company's financial structure, or ownership orcontrol, or business portfolio, designed to increase thevalue of the firm. This course will be taught aroundseveral major topics employing in-depth group workon case studies and deal documentation. The focuswill be on identifying situations that call for nonstandardcorporate finance solutions, and the design and pricingof the situation-specific financing instruments.Examples of such situations include stress-inducedfinancial restructuring, recapitalizations, private equityand leveraged buyouts, mergers and acquisitions, anddivestitures. In many cases resolving these issues willrequire structured finance solutions. Structured financetechniques include the design of debt, equity and hybridfinancing techniques in order to resolve particularissuer or investor problems that cannot be solved byconventional methodsFIN320 Empirical Research in FinanceThis course introduces basic methods that are usedin contemporary financial research. The objective isto provide students with the necessary tools to studythe relevant literature of other core courses in theprogram and to conduct empirical financial researchwithin the framework of the Master's thesis. The coursepays ample attention to the intuition and the practicalapplicability of a variety of econometric techniquesthat are widely used in contemporary empirical financialresearch. Reference will be made to many real worldexamples from the corporate finance and asset pricingliterature. The classes intend to provide hands onexperience with an econometric package such asSTATA and will focus on a careful interpretation of theempirical results obtained.FIN401 Financial ManagementThe course, building upon the background provided inthe core accounting and finance courses, aims toenhance students' understanding of the theory andpractice of the financial management of a firm. Topicscovered include financial analysis and planning, capitalbudgeting process, long term financing, working capitalmanagement and mergers and acquisitions.Prerequisite: FIN201FIN405 Venture Capital and the Finance of InnovationThis course covers the finance of technologicalinnovation, with a focus on the valuation tools usefulin the venture capital industry. These tools include the"venture capital method," comparables analysis,discounted cash flow analysis,Monte Carlo simulation,contingent-claims analysis, decisiontrees, and realoptions. Specific topics of the course include investmentselection, due diligence, valuation, negotiation, portfoliocompany management, exits, limited partners, andfirm management. Students will develop a perspectiveand a framework for understanding the practicalaspects of the business as well as the current state ofthe venture capital industryFIN410 Buyouts and AcquisitionsThe focus of this course is on buying (or acquiringcontrolling stakes in) firms. The main topics to becovered are mergers and friendly acquisitions, hostiletakeovers and buyouts. Using case studies, the coursesurveys the drivers of success in the transactions.While issues regarding motive and strategy will bediscussed, financial theory would be the main lensused to view these control acquiring transactions. Thiswill allow students to (1) evaluate transactions throughvaluation approaches and (2) structure deals employingfinancial innovation as a response to legal frameworkand economic frictions. This course should be of135