AØKK08369U Private Equity (F)

Volume 2018/2019
Education

MSc programme in Economics – elective course
The course is part of the Financial line in Economics symbolized by "F".

Sidefagsuddannelsen i Økonomi-Erhvervsøkonomi - valgfag på KA delen

Master in Law (Students from the Faculty of Law please registrer at the course JJUA55208U Private Equity)

Content

The Private Equity course is designed for students of law, economics and finance with an interest in private equity. The course prepares students for future careers in the global private equity ecosystem from venture capital to buyouts, emphasizing the interconnectedness between academic disciplines (in particular law and economics) market and regulatory practices within this field.

 

The course focusses on practices rather than theories, with guest lectures from the private equity industry providing different perspectives to key issues such as value creation, risk and return, the private equity cycle, alignment of interest, governance and transparency. The course guest speakers complement lectures by instructors from the Faculty of Law and the Department of Economics. Previous guest speakers have included executives from Nordea Corporate Finance, McKinsey, SEB Enskilda, The Danish SFA, Northzone Ventures, ATKearney, EQT, Altor, Accura Law, ATP PEP, The Danish Venture Capital Association, Danske Bank, Axcel as well as entrepreneurs and CEOs of various portfolio companies.

 

During a series of lectures, students will be introduced to basic concepts in corporate finance, corporate governance and contracts by the instructors to bring students from various backgrounds up to speed. Other lectures will focus on various aspects of private equity with guest speakers providing real-life insights and perspectives. At least one class session is planned to be conducted off campus. Previous off campus sessions have been with the Boston Consulting Group and Kromann Reumert, the law firm.

 

Private Equity is a collaborate initiative between the Department of Economics and the Faculty of Law at the University of Copenhagen and was the first joint econ/law graduate course offered by the two programs. Econ and Law students access a common course site on Absalon as the primary means of communication between lectures.

Learning Outcome

After completing the course, students should have aquired the following knowledge, skills and competences;

Knowledge:

  • Describe and understand private equity as a distinct corporate governance model separate from private and public ownership and the key governance issues addressed by the private equity model

  • Understand the key value drivers in the private equity cycle from investment to ownership and exit from the perspective of investors, sponsors and portfolio companies

  • Appreciate the roles of the different players in the private equity ecosystem including investors, managers, advisors and the role and impact of government regulation in a previously unregulated market

  • Identify the regulation of traditional private equity transactions and the relevant parties involved in these transactions and explain the major principles involved in regulating these transaction

  • Analyze and describe the need for restrictions, incentives and monitoring at each stage of the private equity cycle from a legal and/or an economic perspective

  • Analyze the motivation and considerations involved when a company is going public, taken private or is involved in a trade sale to a financial or industrial buyer. These motivations and considerations may be seen from a legal and/or a economic perspective.

  • Critically reflect upon the functioning of the private equity market and its impact on institutional investors, managers, portfolio companies, the wider economy, the public interest, and public policy.

 

Skills:

  • Identify, process and organize relevant data for analyzing topics in private equity

  • Analyze, assess and put into perspective particular aspects of private equity as set out in the exam paper

Competences:

  • Develop and structure arguments and analyses using commonly accepted academic methodologies and good writing practices. 
  • To be able to apply critical and independent thinking as well as appropriate theories, tools, methodologies to the analysis of complex topics and issues within private equity as well as being able to reflect on other governance and ownership models.

 

Required reading (554 pages in total):

  • Private Equity as an Asset Class, chapters 1-8, Guy-Fraser-Sampson, Wiley Finance, 2010 (180 pages)

  • Capital Structure Stewart C. Meyers, Journal of Economic Perspectives, spring 2001 (21 pages)

  • A Survey of Corporate Governance, JG, Andrei Schleifer, Robert W. Vishny, The Journal of Finance, Vol. 52, No.2. (June 1997), pp.737-783, (46 pages)

  • Private Equity, Thomas Krüger Andersen, DJØF 2015, chapters 1-6 (235 pages)

Suggested supplementary material (approximately 142 pages in total):

  • The Economics of the Private Equity Market, George W. Fenn and Nellie Liang, Dallas FED (72 pages)

  • The Nordic Corporate Governance Model, chapters III & IV, Per Lekvall (ed.), SNS Forlag 2014 (60 pages)

  • ILPA Private Equity Principles version 2.0 pages 2-12, ILPA 2011 (10 pages)

  • Relevant legal acts. Public acts.

  • Financial news and data providers such as the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, Financial Times, Bloomberg, Prequin, periodicals, academic papers, databases
Previous courses at a senior bachelor and/or master level and/or practical experience in corporate finance, business strategy, business economics, leadership, innovation, corporate governance and contract law is useful.

The course is aimed at students with an interest in capital allocation, financial markets, management, financial innovation, value creation, regulation, and contracts and other legal issues seen mainly from a practical perspective.

Basic theories and concepts from finance and law will be introduced during the course to facilitate learning for students from diverse educational backgrounds.
To fully benefit from the course, students are strongly encouraged to proactively participate in class discussions to ensure lively, topical and relevant discussions during lecturers and guest speaker appearances.

Students are encouraged to seek individual and/or team counselling and guidance from the lecturers after the lectures and/or by other means as communicated by the lecturers.

One or two lectures may be held off campus. Lectures will comprise contributions from law and econ lecturers as well as from guest speakers.
Schedule:
11 weeks of lectures from week 6 to 17 (except holidays).

Timetable and venue:
To see the time and location of lectures please press the link/links under "Se skema" (See schedule) at the right side of this page (F means Spring).

You can find the similar information in English at
https:/​/​skema.ku.dk/​ku1819/​uk/​module.htm
-Select Department: “2200-Økonomisk Institut” (and wait for respond)
-Select Module:: “2200-F19; [Name of course]”
-Select Report Type: “List – Weekdays”
-Select Period: “Forår/Spring – Week 5-30”
Press: “ View Timetable”

The overall schema for the 3rd year and Master courses can be seen at KUnet:
MSc in Economics => "courses and teaching" => "Planning and overview" => "Your timetable"
KA i Økonomi => "Kurser og undervisning" => "Planlægning og overblik" => "Dit skema"
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Lectures
  • 28
  • Preparation
  • 28
  • Project work
  • 150
  • Total
  • 206
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written assignment, 4 weeks
The exam assignment is a project paper based on a topic individually developed by the student. Exam papers may be written individually or in teams of maximum two students. The exam paper must be written in English.

Prior to writing the exam paper, students must upload a short project description not later than the deadline. The project description paper must be written in English. Following the submission of the project paper, students will have approximately four weeks to complete their exam papers. There are no lectures during this period.

Requirements of the project paper:
For the exam project paper - contrary to the more wide-ranging exploratory approach in lectures - students are expected to focus on a specific aspect of private equity and to develop their own topics for exploration and analysis.

Students are expected to develop and produce independent papers demonstrating their ability (at a graduate level) to identify and focus on a specific issue related to private equity, using appropriate analytical theories and tools to examine the chosen issue in depth through selected and appropriate methodologies. Descriptive passages should be kept to a minimum and to be used for appropriately framing the issue for analysis only. Students may choose using a mainly theoretical and/or a practical approach to their analysis. Students are responsible for the proper usage of data and for source referencing.

All students must strictly adhere to all formal exam requirements as well as to University rules and regulations regarding plagiarism and co-written assignments as stated in KUnet, Absalon and the Curriculum.

The exam paper must follow the rules below, which are equal for both Economic and Law students (and is only applicable for the course Private Equity):

1. Amount of keystrokes:

A: Individually written project:
• Minimum 17.600 keystrokes without space (corresponding to approximately 9 pages with 2000 keystrokes without spaces per page).
• Maximum 29.920 keystrokes without space (corresponding to approximately 15 pages with 2000 keystrokes without spaces per page).
• The total amount of keystrokes must be shown at the front page of the assignement.

B: Written in a group of maximum two students:
• Minimum 23400 keystrokes without space (corresponding to approximately 12 pages with 2000 keystrokes without spaces per page).
• Maximum 39.780 keystrokes without space (corresponding to approximately 20 pages with 2000 keystrokes without spaces per page).

• The contribution of each author must be defined in the preface or the table of contents.
• Introduction and conclusion as well as possible subconclusions and/or summing ups may be written collectively. No more than a maximum of 20 percent may be written collectively.
• The total amount of keystrokes must be shown at the front page of the assignement.

C: Included in the total number of keystrokes is:
• The main text, footnotes, end notes, references in the text and footnotes, equations, formulas, preface.

D: Excluded from the total number of keystrokes is:
• Cover page, table of contents, summary/abstract, list of references/ bibliography, figures, Graphs, tables and appendices

E: Appendices:
• Individually written: Maximum 17.952 keystrokes without space (corresponding to approximately 9 pages with 2000 keystrokes without spaces per page)”
• Written in a Group: Maximum 23.868 keystrokes without space (corresponding to approximately 12 pages with 2000 keystrokes without spaces per page)”


2. If the formal requirements and the requirements above are not met (including the minimum/maximum number of keystokes, extent of the syllabus etc.), the project paper may be rejected by the assessors and 1 exam attempt will be registered as used, cf. the Exam Order.
___
Exam registration requirements

None

____

Aid
All aids allowed
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
____
Exam period

Exam information:

The project description must be handed in no later than:

26 April 2019 at 10 AM in Absalon

 

The project must be handed in no later than:

24 May 2019 at 10 AM in Digital Exam

 

Note: In special cases, the dates may be changed, which will be informed.

 

Further information about the exam will be available in the Digital Exam portal from the middle of the semester.

 

More information about examination, rules, exam Schedule etc. is available at Master students(UK) and  Master students(DK) 

__

Re-exam

Reexam information:

The project description must be handed in no later than:

5 August 2019 at 10 AM to samf-fak@samf.ku.dk

 

The project must be handed in to later than:

30 August 2019 at 10 AM in Digital Exam

 

Note: In special cases, the written reexam can change to another day within the reexam period. Or to an oral exam incl. date, time and place, if only a few students are registered. This will be informed by the Exam Office.

More information about reexam:  Master(UK) and  Master(DK) 

Criteria for exam assesment

Students are assessed on the extent to which they master the learning outcome for the course.

 

To receive the top grade, the student must with no or only a few minor weaknesses be able to demonstrate an excellent performance displaying a high level of command of all aspects of the relevant material and can make use of the knowledge, skills and competencies listed in the learning outcomes.