JJUA54036U Private Equity

Volume 2016/2017
Content

The Private Equity course is designed for students of law, economics and finance with an interest in exploring the workings of the private equity industry as well as public policiy issues related to the industry. 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) and 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, DVCA, Danske Private Equity, Axcel as well as entrepreners and CEOs of various portfolio companies.

During the initial 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. In order to provide students with opportunities for simulating actual decision making processes, one class session will be conducted off campus. Previous off campus sessions have been with BCG and Kromann Reumert Law.

The course is offered in collaboration between the Department of Economics and the Faculty of Law at the University of Copenhagen as the first joint econ/law graduate course offfered by the two programs. Econ and Law students access a common course site 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 the private equity governance model

  • Understand the purpose and processes in the private equity cycle

  • Identify the key value drivers in the private equity cycle

  • Appreciate the roles of the different players in the private equity ecosystem

Skills:

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

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

Competences:

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

  • Apply the tools developed for analyzing private equity to other complex systems and governance 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
Formal training at a senior bachelor level and/or master level and practical experience in corporate finance, business strategy, leadership, innovation, corporate governance and contract law would be useful.
Students should have en interest in financial markets, management, innovation, value creation, regulation and contracts 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 of economics and finance as well as for law students.
The course will utilize a variety of teaching methods ranging from lectures on particular topics, to class discussions, simulated cases, and off campus company visits.

Students are expected to proactively participate in class discussions, to prepare for class sessions by reading the required literature and to develop questions and observations for guest speaker events.

One class session is devoted to exploring potential ideas for exam papers with each student expected to prepare a brief for class feedback. Students are required to upload a brief outline of their exam topic within the deadline provided.
Schedule:
11 lecures by lectors and guest speekers. Appr. one month to write the project assignment.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Preparation
  • 241
  • Seminar
  • 34
  • Total
  • 275
Credit
10 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written assignment
The exam is a written paper in English on a subject written within the course outline. The subject is chosen by the student, and the student may ask the lecturers for prior approval of the subject. Take home paper (max. 35,100 characters; incl. space, front page, index and list of references excluded). Submission of the paper is done electronically at the course homepage. The deadline for submission is late May, early June (a more precise date is disclosed later).
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
Exam period

The Department of Economics plans this exam, see the course description for the exam plan: https://kurser.ku.dk/course/a%c3%98ka08093u/2016-2017

Re-exam

The Department of Economics plans this exam, see the course description for the exam plan: https://kurser.ku.dk/course/a%c3%98ka08093u/2016-2017

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 be able to demonstrate in an excellent manner that he or she has acquired and can make use of the knowledge, skills and competencies listed in the learning outcomes.

In order to obtain the grade 12, students should demonstrate a thorough understanding of the learning outcome:

Knowledge:

  • Understand the private equity governance model

  • Be able to explain the purpose and processes in the private equity cycle

  • Identify the key value drivers in the private equity cycle

  • Appreciate the roles of the different players in the private equity ecosystem

Skills:

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

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

Competences:

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

  • Apply the tools developed for analyzing private equity to other complex systems and governance models