32763 - Private Equity and Structured Finance

Academic Year 2021/2022

  • Docente: Andi Duqi
  • Credits: 6
  • SSD: SECS-P/11
  • Language: English
  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
  • Campus: Forli
  • Corso: Second cycle degree programme (LM) in Economics and management (cod. 9203)

Learning outcomes

The purpose of the course is to provide students with the financial instruments to manage the riskiness underlying the financing of high growth potential firms within the context of private equity, merchant banking and buyouts. A special focus is reserved to the riskiness underlying the entire investment cycle (VC cycle) employed by investors, which includes the following phases: fundraising; selection and evaluation; business and financial planning; negotiation; deal structure; financing; operation, and exit. At the end of the course, students learn the financial instruments employed by venture capitalists to effectively address the problems of asymmetric information and riskiness involved in private equity financing.

Course contents

This course is INTEGRATED AND STRICTLY CONNECTED with the DUE DILIGENCE LABORATORY. 

The entire course is worth 9 credits and it is composed of: Private equity and structured finance (6 credits) and Due Diligence (3 credits).

The entire course is designed especially for the second year of the second cycle degree program in Business and Administration. To follow this course you need to have acquired advanced knowledge of accounting, financial analysis and cost management, corporate finance and corporate valuation. 

The private equity course will focus on the entire venture capital cycle followed by these financial intermediaries. The venture capital cycle includes the following steps:

  • Fundraising;
  • Deal sourcing
  • Due diligence (selection and target evaluation; critical evaluation of the business plan from the VC perspective)
  • Valuation of target firms with various methods (Venture Capital Method; Comparables, DCF Method)
  • Deal structuring and various term provisions;
  • Monitoring;
  • Exit.

 

 

Readings/Bibliography

A special course package will be provided to attending students. Please come to the first class of the course for all details.

The recommended book is the following: Lerner, J., Leamon, A., Hardymon, F. "Venture Capital, Private Equity, and the Financing of Entrepreneurship", 2012, Wiley, chp. 1-7


Teaching methods

The course is interactive and gives the opportunity to the students to apply theoretical concepts in real world cases where the point of view of institutional investors (VCs) and entrepreneurs regarding specific deals is compared.

Assessment methods

Weekly group assignments on different topics covered in class (30% of the final grade). Final written exam at the end of the course (70% of the final grade).

Attendant students will develop the necessary competences to handle assignments and the final exam during the course.  

Non attending students need to follow carefully the themes and the framework explained in the textbook suggested for this course.

The passing grades for students are in the range 18-30 cum laude (30L). These grades are based on the following evaluation criteria:

18-23: The student has sufficient preparation and analytical skills, spread however, over just few topics taught in the course, the overall jargon is correct.
24-27: The student shows an adequate preparation at a technical level with some doubts over the topics. Good, yet not too articulated analytical skills with the use of a correct jargon.
28-30: Great knowledge about most of the topics taught in the course, good critical and analytical skills, good usage of the specific jargon.
30 cum laude (30L): Excellent and in depth knowledge of all the topics in the course, excellent critical and analytical skills, excellent usage of specific jargon.

Please note that the assessment methods can be modified depending on the ongoing pandemic emergency.


Office hours

See the website of Andi Duqi

SDGs

Quality education

This teaching activity contributes to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda.