Electives

A case-based course relating corporate finance theory to practice, and covering advanced topics in valuation and financing.

This course covers the fundamentals of financial analysis, evaluating the quality of financial information and using the information to reveal the economics of firms.

This course surveys recent developments in behavioural finance - the field that seeks to explain seemingly irrational financial phenomena in terms of individual behaviour, psychology, and cognitive errors.

A company sponsored project (counting as one elective credit) is an opportunity to further deepen your practical knowledge and to strengthen your industry networks in either the area you are currently working in, or in a sector or company of interest.
Projects are specifically selected to test and enhance the knowledge you have gained over the duration of the programme.

Projects completed by the 2012 class included:

• Who's shunning the specialist funds? An examination of the real asset allocation policies of investment advisory firms
• Sustainable Private Equity Investment in Emerging Markets
• Starting a Hedge Fund: from an industry analysis to a business plan proposal
• Private Financing of Infrastructure: an assessment of the Peru Experience

The course will provide an introduction as well as an in-depth understanding of issues in credit risk, its modelling and applications, as well as new developments.

This elective provides a rigorous conceptual framework for valuing and understanding the behaviour of derivative instruments and their use in risk management and speculation.

This course provides a detailed framework for understanding and evaluating the opportunities and pitfalls for businesses, markets, financial institutions and government policy in a wide variety of new and emerging markets.

This course provides an introduction to the basics of power system economics, a review of the structural and strategic changes facing the industry, investment issues and technology choice.

This covers applications of modern portfolio theory to equity investment, strategic asset allocation, portfolio optimisation, traditional active management versus hedge funds, stock market anomalies and the implications of behavioural finance.

This course covers an extensive array of European financial issues. Topics include monetary policy, financial integration and associated regulatory frameworks, corporate restructuring and corporate governance as well as the Euro and the international financial system.

This course covers the financial reporting and analysis of transactions and restructurings, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, dual listed companies, stock repurchases, spin-offs, carve-outs, leveraged buyouts and recaps.

An advanced course using continuous-time mathematics and cutting-edge methods to value, hedge, design and structure a wide variety of derivative contracts. It covers stochastic calculus, martingale methods, partial differential equations and numerical methods.

A case-based course on financing (and valuing) entrepreneurial businesses with both loan finance and equity capital, covering start-ups, emerging growth companies, MBOs and buy-ins, and exiting.

A rigorous, quantitative course on the valuation of fixed income securities, the tools used in bond portfolio management and the management of interest rate risk.

This advanced macroeconomics course focuses on currencies and exchange rates and the linkages with interest rates and prices and financial globalisation.

This course reviews cutting edge research on the fast growing hedge fund industry to provide a unified framework encompassing the different hedge fund strategies, and the role of hedge funds.

This course examines the workings of the international fixed income, international equity, foreign exchange and forex derivatives markets, and shows how these markets can be used to solve corporate problems such as managing exposure to exchange rates and country risk.

The objective of the course is to explore the management issues that arise when a firm needs to embark on radical change to ensure its survival. The focus is on the development and, above all, implementation of strategies for companies in financial distress.

This elective examines corporate reorganisations, including mergers and acquisitions, reorganisation through workouts and bankruptcy, divisional spin-offs and divestitures, and leveraged buyouts.

This course covers the concepts, instruments and institutions involved in private equity investments. A particular emphasis will be given to emerging markets.

The objective of this course is to provide students with the concepts and tools necessary for understanding real estate markets and for managing real estate assets, with a focus on value creation.

This course focuses on the tools and techniques of securities analysis and the development of a framework for making investment decisions. It covers fundamental analysis and development of financial models for determining the intrinsic value of a firm's stock.

This course is designed to help finance professionals evaluate businesses and transactions from a strategic viewpoint. It covers business strategy issues such as competitive forces in the industry, strategic positioning, and the resources and capabilities needed to compete.

This course aims to provide a firm understanding of the nature of environmental and demographic change and the economic and commercial transformations.

An advanced statistical course on the analysis and forecasting of time series data, especially high frequency financial data. It covers nonstationarity, mean reversion, autocorrelation; cointegration, causality and contagion.

This elective covers the jobs of analysts, quantitative specialists, strategists, fund managers, consultants, real estate and hedge fund professionals, and investment advisers. There are numerous case studies (many of them live) and visiting speakers.

The purpose of this course is to familiarise you with the workings of the global economy and the main factors that determine the financial health of corporations and nations including: what makes countries rich, how technology affects the economy.

This class aims to develop students' abilities to value companies and to find and appraise equity investment ideas. This is done through extensive real-world research and fundamental analysis to estimate the intrinsic value of prospective ideas as compared to market prices.

This course covers the concepts, techniques, instruments and institutions involved in private equity investment, including new venture finance, corporate venture finance and buyouts.

This course studies the evolution of the global economy by focusing on current topical issues. Topics covered last year included: Why does African growth disappoint?; Has Japan really recovered and what are its long term prospects?