• Be familiar with fundamental theories and models of portfolio selection, pricing of shares, bonds, derivatives, as well as concepts of and tests of capital market efficiency, and performance evaluation
• Be able to apply the theories and models in solving portfolio problems, pricing issues and, capital budgeting, real options and performance evaluation of corporations in practice
• Have presented results from a group project in a seminar session and responded to critique from fellow students and teacher.

The course will cover the following topics: The reading material for the course will include a textbook (Brealey, Meyers, and Marcus) in addition to a collection of articles (Dickson) on selected issues from financial economics with relevance for business practice. The articles will give condensed reviews of developments of theoretical models and ways of thinking in practice within the last decades. They will preponderantly focus on results and applications in practice and be of a non-technical nature. The course will present issues and results from the following areas: Valuation, Equity and Debt Finance, Managing Value, Nature of Financial Markets, Equity and Debt Markets, Portfolio Investments, Risk Management, and Derivatives. Examples from practice to be discussed will among others include LBOs (leveraged buy-outs), IPOs (initial public offerings of equity capital), merger and acquisitions, EVA (economic value added) as measure of performance, new types of securities and securitization, active vs. passive portfolio strategies, to hedge or not to hedge risk, futures & options as risk control instruments. Some examples of mismanagement in business practice will also be discussed.

The course uses the textbooks, Brealey, Myers & Marcus: Fundamentals of Corporate Finance, lastest edition Tim Dickson (ed): Mastering Finance. Pitman Publishing, 1998. Supplemental texts and handouts will be assigned for the lectures.