AØKK08369U Private Equity (F)

Volume 2019/2020
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 course Private Equity is for students of law, economics and finance with an interest in the role of capital markets in for society and the foundations and practices of 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) as well as market- and regulatory practices within this field.

 

Students should not expect a classic progression, but rather to be exposed to various aspects of private equity for the self-study and further specialization. The course focusses on practices rather than theories.

 

Part One comprises a series of weekly classes conducted by lecturers from the Faculty of Law and the Department of Economics introducing key concepts and ideas, complemented with sessions by external guest speakers providing practical insights. Previous guest speakers have included executives from institutions such as Nordea, McKinsey, The Danish SFA, Vækstfonden, ATKearney, EQT, Altor, Accura Law, ATP PEP, DVCA, CIP, Danske Bank and Axcel as well as entrepreneurs and portfolio company CEOs.

 

During Part One, the supervisors will guide students and provide feedback on student ideas for exam paper topics. It is the responsibility of students to generate ideas suitable for an exam paper.

 

During Part Two, students initiate, write and submit take home exam papers of their own choice on topics related to private equity. Responsibility for papers submitted, adherence to University ethical standards and deadlines remains exclusively with the students.

 

Although the exam paper is the formal basis for grading, active class participation is expected and highly recommended.

 

Private Equity is a collaborate effort between the Faculty of Law and Department of Economics, hosted by the Department of Economics and lead by supervisors from each Department. Course requirements are identical for econ and law students. Absalon is used for upload of various course materials and as a means of communication between faculty and students during the course. Private Equity is conducted in English only.

Learning Outcome

After completing the course, the student is expected to be able to:

Knowledge:

  • Describe and account for 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

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

  • Define 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

  • 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 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 an economic perspective.

  • Develop, structure and implement arguments and analyses in written assignments using commonly accepted academic methodologies and good writing practices. 

 

Competences:

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

 

Literature

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.
The supervisors aim to provide for a free and open exchange of ideas, concepts and practises incorporating real life experiences and perspectives to better set important issues and challenges in perspective.

It is expected that students use the required and suggested reading material listed for self-study, reflection and class preparation. There will be no formal presentation of the content of the course material in class.

To fully benefit from the course, students are strongly encouraged to proactively participate in class discussions to ensure lively, topical and stimulating class discussions. The supervisors will call on individual students to contribute to these discussions as an important part of the learning experience.

Students are encouraged to seek individual and/or team counselling and guidance from the supervisors in class breaks and/or after classes.
Schedule:
Part one: (Teaching period)
From week 6 to 16 (or 17): 10 weeks of lectures and selfstudy.

Part Two: (Project period)
From week 16 to deadline of submitting the exam project: Submitting the project outline, selfstuding and writing the exam project paper. It is strongly advisable that the research period for finding the topic and literature for the project begins as soon as possible during part one.

The overall schema for the 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"

Timetable and venue:
To see the time and location of lectures please press the link 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/​ku1920/​uk/​module.htm
-Select Department: “2200-Økonomisk Institut” (and wait for respond)
-Select Module:: “2200-F20; [Name of course]”
-Select Report Type: “List – Weekdays”
-Select Period: “Forår/Spring – Week 5-30”
Press: “ View Timetable”
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Lectures
  • 28
  • Preparation
  • 58
  • Project work
  • 120
  • Total
  • 206
Written
Oral
Individual
Collective

 

Oral feedback by the supervisors to students will be provided on a continuos basis during class discussions – individually and collectively, prior to classes, in class breaks and following classes. Students may also write the supervisors for feedback on their ideas for exam paper topics and - to a limited extent - during the exam paper writing process. Due to the expected size of the class, such opportunities for feedback will be available within reason.

Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Written assignment, 3 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 three 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.
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Exam registration requirements

There are no requirements that the student has to fulfill during the course to be able to sit the exam.

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Aid
All aids allowed
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
for the written exam. The exam may be chosen for external censorship by random check.
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Exam period

Exam information:

The project description must be uploaded to Digital Exam no later than:

22 April 2020 at 10 AM

 

The exam project paper must be uploaded to Digital Exam no later than:

20 May 2020 at 10 AM

 

More information will be available in the Digital Exam from the middle of the semester.

 

In special cases, the dates can be changed to another day and time.

 

For enrolled students more information about examination, rules etc. is available at the intranet for Master students (UK) and Master students (DK).

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Re-exam

Reexam information:

The project description must be uploaded to Digital Exam no later than:

5 August 2020 at 10 AM

 

The exam project paper must be uploaded to Digital Exam no later than:

28 August 2020 at 10 AM

 

NOTE: If only a few students have registered for the written re-exam, the reexam might change to an oral exam including the date, time and place for the exam, which will be informed by the Examination Office.

 

Information about the reexam will be available in the Digital Exam early August.

 

More information:  Master (UK)andMaster (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.