Who is it for?
The MSc degree in Corporate Finance is designed for ambitious students with interest in the area of corporate finance. Your background is not necessarily in finance or accounting, but you have a keen interest to study corporate finance and aim for a professional career in this or a related field.
You aim to work as a finance professional for an investment bank, a consulting firm, or a global corporation as a finance manager. You are interested in questions such as:
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How do investors decide which stocks (e.g. Tesla vs. Ford) and which markets (e.g. the UK vs. Italy) to invest in?
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The benefits of international compared to domestic mergers?
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How do hedge funds and investment banks compete in the market?
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What skills and knowledge you need to work for a hedge fund, a private equity firm, an investment bank or one of top accounting firms, an M&A boutique or a finance department at a global corporation.
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How to value a company for a private equity buyout, an acquisition or an IPO?
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How to analyse financial statements to understand firm’s profitability and future prospects
The degree attracts top students from around the world and is among the most popular degrees students apply to. During the studies, you will have the opportunity to meet and network with alumni working in the finance profession and learn their inside tips on getting a finance job. The programme is widely recognised by top recruiters in the City of London and internationally.
Objectives
The Corporate Finance master’s is designed to satisfy your drive to understand how companies manage their investment and financing decisions.
In your studies, you will examine questions such as: how financial markets work and how companies access them to finance their operations, what IPOs and mergers and acquisitions are and how they help increase firm value, how to value financial products, such as stocks and derivatives.
Your studies will encompass practical and up-to-date teaching on how the modern corporate finance world works from top academics and practitioners from the City of London.
You will graduate fully equipped for a successful career within financial management and corporate finance departments of leading global and international corporations, top investment and commercial banks, and family firms.
Unique features of this degree are:
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core modules in Corporate Finance, Financial Accounting, Mergers & Acquisitions/Private Equity and Risk Management
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tuition from 'practitioner' professors who discuss how theory applies to the real world
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hands-on courses on the use of Excel, VBA and opportunity to learn other programming languages such as Python
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a choice from over twelve finance related electives including international electives in New York, Madrid, Portugal and Milan
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opportunities to meet and interact with top finance and business leaders during guest lectures and seminars
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support from one of London’s best Careers’ Office to help you secure future employment (including one-to-one sessions to prepare you for interviews, networking sessions, work on your CV, advice on application and a Career’s Fair where you can meet potential employers)
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networking events with alumni and finance professionals
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the opportunity to apply for an additional year's study at LUISS or Bocconi business schools in Italy to quality with two MSc degrees (one from the Bayes Business School and the other from LUISS or Bocconi)
Structure
What will you learn
On the Corporate Finance MSc, you will learn to:
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Demonstrate an in-depth understanding of corporate finance issues, such as project valuation, optimal firm financing and evaluating firm performance, as well as of financial markets, institutions and instruments
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Understand and evaluate current issues in corporate finance, including IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, and events in debt markets
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Formulate finance decisions aimed at delivering returns to shareholders and superior Return on Investment
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Analyse factors affecting the global flows of finance, e.g. in and out of Asian markets
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Learn how to network with peers and senior finance professionals in the City of London
Induction weeks
All of our MSc courses start with two compulsory induction weeks which include relevant refresher courses, an introduction to the careers services and the annual careers fair.
Term 1
Core modules:
Corporate Finance and Valuation
The aim of this course is to introduce you to the field of corporate finance.
This is achieved by familiarising you with the core theoretical principles, and equipping you with the basic and most commonly used practical finance tools.
The material covered in this course is crucial for professional work in the area of corporate finance as well as for further study of more advanced or specialised corporate finance-related courses. It is relevant for financial officers, economists, investment bankers, analysts, and other decision makers.
The course is designed around several overarching principles such as the time value of money, market efficiency, and the goal of value maximisation.
The teaching material puts significant emphasis on relevant theories and their practical applications, and is informed by the pertinent academic research and examples from the corporate world from around the globe.
Financial Reporting
The aim of this course is to equip students with critical understanding of the principles and practices of accounting, characteristics and limitations of accounting data.
Students will learn how to prepare and interpret financial statements, to apply and comment on accounting policies and to use accounting information to assess financial performance of the business.
The course will make it possible for you to:
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15 credits
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3 hours per week in lectures
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12 hours per week self directed study
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Prepare and interpret financial statements
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Comment on accounting policies and discuss their implications for the financial performance of the business
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Use accounting information to assess the financial situation of a company.
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Research Methods for Finance Professionals
Strong research is a key element of development strategy for companies and institutions, large and small.
This module aims to provide a grounding in financial research, particularly financial modelling and information gathering,which you will be able to use to support your learning on the rest of your course.
The module will utilise specific training in a financial modelling package in order to provide a strong foundation for the in-depth and specialist teaching and learning of terms two and three of your course.
You will also learn how to gather information through database research, which you will be able to use to support your learning, substantiate your arguments and make assessments about the nature of the evidence you are using.
- 10 credits
- 3 x 3 hour lectures over the ten week term
- 52 hours self directed study over the ten week term
Statistics in Finance
This module is designed to give you knowledge of quantitative methods that can be effectively used to analyse financial data. Although some theory is needed to understand the methods, the emphasis is on a hands-on approach to provide you/students with practical skills.
The module puts emphasis on the foundations of hypothesis testing and estimation of econometric models that can be used for prediction and pricing.
Theory of Finance
The course will make it possible for you to:
The module Theory of Finance provides you with an introduction to different financial instrument as well as the they theoretical concepts used in finance.
The emphasis in the module is very much on the practical applications of those theoretical concepts and issues such as should we really invest in the optimum weights or what can we expect from the stock market in the long term are being discussed.
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15 credits
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3 hours per week in lectures
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12 hours per week self directed study
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Acquire a good understanding of the different financial markets and the various instruments which are traded in those markets
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Understand the importance of risk, its trade off with returns and how it is being used in asset allocation decisions
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Be able to apply for junior positions at investment banks, fund management companies or other financial institutions or financial organisations.
Term 2
Core modules:
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Advanced Corporate Finance
The aim of this course is to develop an understanding of modern corporate finance so that the corporate manager, the investment banker and the financial analyst will have the conceptual foundations for making informed corporate assessments of key financial decisions.
This course provides students with an in-depth knowledge of corporate finance, complemented with cases and discussions of real life examples.
- 15 credits
- 3 hours per week in lectures
- 12 hours per week self directed study
Corporate Risk Management
The module will make it possible for you to acquire an understanding of the principal objectives and constraints of corporate risk management.
The aim of this module is to provide you with an understanding of the multinational corporation, the global risk management markets and the use of derivatives and other hedges to mitigate risk exposures.
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15 credits
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3 hours per week in lectures
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12 hours per week self directed study
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Financial Statement Analysis
The ability to understand and analyse financial statement information is a key skill in a wide range of business activities, from managing a corporation to investing in securities.
This module leverages many materials from bulge bracket and boutique investment banks to showcase how various techniques covered in the module are used by professionals from the Wall Street, providing students with hands-on experience in analysing and interpreting financial information disclosed by firms listed on major stock exchanges.
- 15 credits
- 3 hours per week in lectures
- 12 hours per week self directed study
Topics in Mergers and Acquisitions
Students will learn how companies use M&A transactions to implement their strategic plans and how such transactions are structured and analysed.
Emphasis is given to applied financial analysis, case studies are used throughout the module and lectures are complemented by guest presentations given by M&A practitioners.
Term 3
You may choose from these three options in your final term.
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Option 1: Students can opt to write a 10,000 word business research project (40 credits) and take one specialist elective module (1 x 10 credits).
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Option 2: Students can take five specialist elective modules (5 x 10 credits).
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Option 3: Students can opt to write a 3,000-5,000 words Applied Research Project (20 credits) and take three specialist elective modules.
Electives offered in 2021
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Advanced Company Valuation
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Corporate Restructuring
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Ethics, Society and the Finance Sector
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Hedge Funds
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Intro to Python
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Investment Banking in Corporate Finance
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Private Equity Investment
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Technical Analysis and Trading Systems
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VBA with Application for Finance.
International electives
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FinTech (taught in Italy)
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International Real Estate Markets (taught in Dubai, UAE)
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Investment Strategy (taught in New York, USA)
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Project Finance and Infrastructure Investment (taught in Madrid, Spain).
Please note that electives are subject to change and availability.
Projects
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Business Research Project
It is important for aspiring professionals to demonstrate, on an individual basis, their ability to apply concepts and techniques they have learned in an in-depth study of a topic of their choice and to organise their findings in a report, all conducted within a given time limit.
To train you to undertake individual research and provide you with an opportunity to specialise in a contemporary business or finance topic related to your future career aspirations.
You are required to submit a project of approximately 10,000 words on any subject area covered in the rest of the programme.
Typical projects can involve any of the following: extracting data from electronic databases or by hand; statistical analysis of large or small populations; interviews; case studies of an industry or a sector or of a business / finance issue in a particular country setting.
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Applied Research Project
