30257 Corporate Valuation

Academic year: 2014/2015

Syllabus
General information
Department of Finance: Via Rontgen 1, Second Floor,
Email rosella.cusenza@unibocconi.it,
Phone number 02 58363505
Instructors:

Laura Zanetti, Department of Finance, office hours: Thursday 11.00 am,

please do check on-line, Room 2-D1-17
email: laura.zanetti@unibocconi.it
Roberto Bianchini, Department of Finance, office hours: Wednesday
6.00 pm, Room 2-E3-01
Email roberto.bianchini@unibocconi.it

Class Assistants:

Chiara Arisi, Department of Finance, office hours: Thursday 1 pm,

Room 2-E3-05
Email arisi.chiara@unibocconi.it
Alberto Maria Ghezzi, Department of Finance, office hours: Tuesday
8.00 am, Room 2-E3-06
Email aghezzi@unibocconi.it

Course email:

Please use this email to communicate with instructors about

administrative enquires (such as group composition issues)
Email corporate.valuation@unibocconi.it

Course objectives
This course focuses on the financial analysis and valuation of companies. The course aims at
providing students with:
the conceptual and theoretical framework surrounding valuation issues
the practical tools to address such topics in real-life situations
The main methodologies of corporate valuation are analyzed and the approaches commonly used by
practitioners (financial analysts, investment and merchant banks, consulting firms) are critically
discussed. Examples will focus on corporate valuation issues using DCF, stock market multiples
completed by industry-specific as well as case-specific valuation techniques.
Upon successful completion of the requirement of this course students will be able to:
understand and apply techniques for company valuation
appreciate how to apply techniques and concepts learned in other courses
become more efficient at working in teams

Textbook
This course will rely on selected chapters of: Valuation: Measuring and Managing the Value of
Companies, University Edition, 5th Edition, by McKinsey & Company, Tim Koller, Marc
Goedhart, and David Wessels (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2010), ISBN 978-0-470-42470-4.
Additional teaching material:
For each session, the teaching material will be handed-out by the instructor through the e-learning
space. The material includes teaching notes, slides, companys financial statements, and sample
files.
Assessment for attending students
The assessment will be the result of a final written exam and a group homework score:
final written exam: from 0 to 25 out /30
group homework: from 0 to 6/30 (groups valuation will be based on the quality of the
output, the quality of presentation, class participation and discussion)
The exam is based on open questions (see the detailed course content for the list of chapters and
arguments) and short exercises. During exercise sessions and final lesson instructors will show
some examples of exam questions.
The course is passed if:
the mark of the final written exam is 15, AND
the final grade (group homework + final written exam) is 18
A final mark of 30 cum laude will be assigned to students who reach a final grade equal to 31.
Once a student has passed the course, the grade is registered and s/he cannot re-sit the exam.
Please note that exam dates are scheduled by the students office and we cannot modify them.
Please remember you must register through you@B to sit the exam sessions.
Please note that the homework grade will be valid until September 2015 exam session.
Group homework and case presentation: game rules
You are asked to form groups of maximum 5 people. It is important that groups are formed quickly
so that the work can start. Groups composition must be communicated no later than Friday 19th
September by sending an email to corporate.valuation@unibocconi.it. Use the excel form
(group comp.xlsx) uploaded on homework section of e-learning to communicate:
the name of the group, the class of the students (31 or 32)
the names, ID numbers and email address of each student
All groups members must be cc copied in the email.
Instructors will select some groups for each presentation session and the presentation schedule will
be shown in class and communicated by the end of September through the e-learning.
Please indicate in advance (before September 19th) if there is a specific date on which your group is
unable to present.

Students with no groups can send an email to corporate.valuation@unibocconi.it and they will be
placed in a group by the instructors.
Students unable or unwilling to participate in group homework will take the exam as nonattending students. Students who initially intended to participate in group homework and who
become unable to do so must communicate it to instructors. Each student is expected to contribute
to the homework at his/her best. Cases of free-riding should be reported to
corporate.valuation@unibocconi.it.
Case presentation: rolling deadline for each group
o Each week the instructor will ask to selected groups to analyze a case and to present and
discuss it in front of the classroom (see the section Detailed course content for the
schedule).
o Each group will be asked to present in class once during the whole course
o The task, the company to be analyzed and some serving documents, as well as the
selected groups, will be communicated in class. The following week the groups will
present and discuss their work in class.
o We will have some industry experts coming into class as guest speakers providing a
unique insight into different valuation methodologies across a wide range of sectors (e.g.
consumer, luxury, financial institutions etc.)
Change of class
Students are required to attend lessons and presentations in the class they have been assigned.
Groups for homework must also be formed among students of the same class. Instructors are unable
to assign students to the other class. Students that due to unforeseen circumstances need to change
class must be authorized by the students office.
Not attending students
The exam is based on chapters 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 21, 22, 23, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36 of the
textbook + Appendix A B C D E. The assessment for not attending students will be the result of a
final written exam graded from 0 to 31 out/ 30 (the course is passed if the grade is 18).
The exam is based on open questions and short exercises.

Detailed course content

Session
#

Date

Contents

Related literature

8/9
9/9

Course outline
Introduction to valuation

Handout

10/9
11/9

Frameworks for valuation

Chapters 6

15/9
16/9

Frameworks for valuation (cont)

Estimating Continuing Value

Chapters 6
Chapters 10

17/9
18/9

Reorganizing the Balance Sheet

Analyzing performance

Chapter 7
Chapter 8

22/9
23/9

Analyzing and Forecasting performance

Business Plan model presentation

Chapter 8-9
Handout

24/9
25/9

Business Plan model presentation

Handout

29/9
30/9

Estimating the cost of capital

Chapter 11

2/10

Forecasting Performance
Guest speaker
Dalani

Handout

6/10
7/10

Case 1 presentation by groups

Handout

10

8/10
9/10

Valuation with Multiples

Chapter 14

11

13/10
14/10

Case 2 presentation by groups

Handout

12

16/10

M&A
Deutsche Bank
Guest speaker

Handout

13

29/10
30/10

Case 3 presentation by groups

14

3/11

Case 4 presentation by groups

Handout

15

5/11
7/11

Case 5 presentation by groups

Handout

16

6/11

Guest speaker
Valuing Luxury Companies
Permira

Handout

17

10/11

Case 6 presentation by groups

Handout

Handout

18

12/11
13/11

Mergers and Acquisitions

Divestitures

Chapters 21, 22

19

17/11

Valuing regulated companies

The energy industry

Handout

20

19/11
20/11

Exercise Session

Handout

21

24/11

Valuing Financial Institutions

Chapter 36

22

26/11
27/11

Inflation, deflation and foreign currency risk

Chapters 29-30

23

1/12

Valuation in emerging markets

Valuing high growth companies

Chapters 33-34

24

3/12
4/12

Exercise Session

Handout