GRA 8268 Corporate Finance

GRA 8268 Corporate Finance

Course code: 
GRA 8268
Department: 
Finance
Credits: 
4
Course coordinator: 
Øyvind Norli
Kjell Nyborg
Course name in Norwegian: 
Corporate Finance
Product category: 
Executive
Portfolio: 
EMBA Business Administration - Core Courses
Semester: 
2025 Autumn
Active status: 
Active
Teaching language: 
English
Course type: 
Two semesters
Introduction

This course will introduce you to Corporate Finance. The main objective of the course is to provide you with insights and practical tools that will help you make sound corporate financial decisions. In other words, financial decisions that create long-term value. The course will show that creating long term value can be equivalent to accounting for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues in decision making. 

 

The course covers two broad topics:

 

Part I: Financial Policy and the risk-return trade-off. 

 

In Part I, we will examine the factors that determine a company’s need for external financing, be it debt or equity. We will then consider the optimal mix of debt and equity financing. We will also introduce you to the trade-off between risk and return in capital markets.

 

Part II: Valuation. 

 

In Part II, we will develop the tools needed for valuing investment projects, including the estimation of relevant project cash flows, estimating the cost of capital (discount rate), and dealing with risk. We will then use these tools as a basis for selecting investment projects and valuing companies and corporate transactions (including, but not limited to a merger or an acquisition).

Learning outcomes - Knowledge
  • Overview of methods for evaluating investment projects.

  • What are relevant risk in project analysis and corporate valuations.

  • Why is corporate cost of capital related to investors’ expected return on other assets.

  • Understanding the effect of capital structure on the value of a corporation and its equity.

  • Methods for valuing companies.

  • Distinguish between “risk” variance and “risk” as covariance and that the former has no market price while the latter has.

  • What determines the value of a financial option – and that the flip side of the value of an option is the cost of insurance

Learning outcomes - Skills
  • Evaluate investment opportunities

  • Determining cost of capital for projects and companies

  • Valuing corporations

  • Compute the value of a merger and formulate a bidding strategy

  • Estimate the value of an option

General Competence

Insights and practical knowledge that will help you make sound corporate financial decisions. In other words, financial decisions that create long-term value. You will learn that creating long term value can be equivalent to accounting for environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues in decision making.

Course content

1. Introduction to corporate finance
2. Financial planning
3. Capital budgeting
4. Risk and return. CAPM.
5. Capital structure
6. Free Cash Flow
7. Cost of capital
8. Options. real options.
9. Mergers and acquisitions

Teaching and learning activities

1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. 

The course is conducted through a total of 32 hours of lectures and casework. The cases are prepared in groups and discussed in class. It is expected that the participants actively participate in class discussions. 

A number of cases will be used throughout the course. It is expected that the participants have prepared themselves beforehand for the discussion of the cases in the classroom. 

Attendance to all sessions in the course is compulsory. If you have to miss part(s) of the course you must ask in advance for leave of absence. More than 25% absence in a course will require retaking the entire course. It's the student's own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class that is not included on the course homepage/ It's learning or other course materials.

The course is a part of a full Executive MBA programme and examination in all courses must be passed in order to obtain a certificate.

In all BI Executive courses and programmes, there is a mutual requirement  
for the student and the course responsible regarding the involvement of the student's experience in the planning and implementation of courses, modules and programmes. This means that the student has the right and duty to get involved with their own knowledge and practice relevance, through the active sharing of their relevant experience and knowledge.

Software tools
No specified computer-based tools are required.
Qualifications

Granted admission to the EMBA programme. Please consult our student regulations.
 

Disclaimer

Deviations in teaching and exams may occur if external conditions or unforeseen events call for this.

Assessments
Assessments
Exam category: 
Submission
Form of assessment: 
Submission PDF
Exam/hand-in semester: 
Second Semester
Weight: 
55
Grouping: 
Individual
Duration: 
1 Semester(s)
Comment: 
Individual assignment: 55% of the grade
Exam code: 
GRA 82682
Grading scale: 
ECTS
Resit: 
Examination when next scheduled course
Exam category: 
Submission
Form of assessment: 
Submission PDF
Exam/hand-in semester: 
Second Semester
Weight: 
45
Grouping: 
Group (2 - 8)
Duration: 
1 Semester(s)
Comment: 
Group work (case write-up): 45% of the grade
Exam code: 
GRA 82683
Grading scale: 
ECTS
Resit: 
Examination when next scheduled course
Type of Assessment: 
Ordinary examination
All exams must be passed to get a grade in this course.
Total weight: 
100
Student workload
ActivityDurationComment
Teaching
32 Hour(s)
Prepare for teaching
28 Hour(s)
Student's own work with learning resources
50 Hour(s)
Self study, feedback activities/counselling and exam
Sum workload: 
110

A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 4 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of at least 110 hours.