Fundamentals of Corporate Finance

Key concepts/ principles in corporate finance

• Present value and future value
• Capital asset pricing based on risk
• Efficient capital markets
• Added value
• Capital structure choices
• Option theory
• Agency and incentives

What does working in corporate finance actually involve?

• Winning work
• Types of transaction
• Main business areas 
• Day to day working in a corporate finance business
• Key skills for practitioners 
• The good things … and the challenges

What do corporate finance transactions require?

• Clear objectives
• An strong investment case
• Commitment 
• Clear messages
• Good planning/ Well managed process
• Understanding what good business looks like

What does any good process entail?

• Clear focus on investors/ counterparts
• What information and when?
• Reasonable timelines
• Criteria for decision
• How to have reasoned disagreement 

What does raising money call for?

• What makes a good investment case?
• What are appropriate returns to offer?
• What do we mean by a ’Story’?
• Why do people matter so much?

What does M&A entail?

• Why does M&A happen? Drivers: understand why businesses are bought and sold
• What makes a good opportunity? ROIC-WACC as analogy to investment returns
• Why is focus important? The importance of targeting: buyers (sell side)/ targets (buy side)
• How do we go about this? Strategic choices: type of process
• Why does communication matter? The key to good buyer/ seller dialogue

Demystifying why this is a complex, multi-dimensional process: Key process components to understand

• What does this mean? Short sections on each of:
  • Valuation
  • Processes/ equencing
  • Due diligence
  • Documents: NDAs, Teasers and IMs
  • Choosing a preferred bidder
  • Deal closing skills
  • Good dialogue with the lawyers

Conclusion: what makes a good practitioner

• Develop key client relationship skills
• Master the elements of project management
• Grasp of detail
• Develop your ability to anticipate
• Good and bad behaviours 

The session delivers essential introductory learnings for anyone starting a career in corporate finance, It draws content from several of Redcliffe’s popular, long-established corporate finance and M&A courses in a condensed and easily digestible half-day session.

The emphasis is on a practical introduction to corporate finance work: raising money, and buying and selling businesses.

The teaching is enlivened by real-world examples and experience throughout, combined with a straightforward explanation of the underlying rationale.

Our trainer has worked on corporate finance and capital markets transactions for over thirty years. He has held positions on the client side as well as leading advisory teams.

At the Department of Energy, he was a civil servant involved in the privatisation of British Gas, a global IPO involving a large advisory team. He also spent two years (1990-92) in the Hungarian Government privatisation agency, working with many advisory firms, as the changing political environment triggered massive ownership change.

Our corporate finance fundamentals course lead has worked in major investment banks (Swiss Bank Corporation International – now UBS - and Lazard) and also co-founded a successful M&A advisory boutique firm. In 2021, he retired from KPMG, where he spent 13 years in the firm’s global M&A business, based in Scotland.

His experience combines a broad range of M&A and equity transactions in North and Central America, Asia Pacific, and all the major European countries, and more recently, in Africa. His courses draw on case studies from his past transactions, bringing practical examples to set alongside the theory.

Redcliffe’s corporate finance fundamentals course delivers key concepts of corporate finance. There are 5 learning objectives to help focus and advance your career:

• Client service: what corporate financiers do, day-to-day, and their overriding aim on behalf of their clients
• Why finance is sought and raised: understanding the motives on each side of the transaction
• What buying and selling businesses entail
• How to manage a corporate finance process
• The ability to give clients good, clear and trusted advice in complex and sensitive areas

Our Corporate Finance Fundamentals course is a ‘must know’ for:

• Professionals likely involved in corporate finance transactions
  • Advisers or principals wishing to build their ability to execute capital raising and M&A transactions, including:
  • Corporate finance professionals in investment banks, boutique advisory businesses, and the corporate finance arms of accountancy firms
  • Corporate business development teams, where M&A is a key part of their strategy
  • Owner-managers of successful businesses considering expansion by acquisition, or raising capital
  • Private equity professionals, especially those new to the industry, who may have backgrounds as lawyers, accountants or consultants

And a ‘nice to know’ for:

• Legal and other advisers working in corporate finance practices, seeking a better understanding of how principals and their financial advisers initiate corporate finance deals and negotiate terms

This Fundamentals of Corporate Finance course is especially beneficial for professionals with some experience in transactions who want to speed up their understanding of what drives successful deals.

We can refine course material for a private session to meet the specific needs of the client. Whether they are a business owner contemplating a sale, a company looking to make acquisitions, or an advisory firm building its M&A practice.

Redcliffe Training’s corporate finance fundamentals course is a practical guide for professionals who want to learn what corporate finance is all about. We make clear what corporate finance entails, as well as the key challenges and choices involved in corporate finance projects.

This workshop will help accelerate your learning, understanding and career progression. Making it ideal for ambitious, though still inexperienced, practitioners.