Peqod :: Classes - Columbia University Catalog of Classes

The course "Private Equity: Capital Formation, Innovation, and Impact" focuses on the dynamics in private equity between General Partners (GPs) and Limited Partners (LPs), especially through the private equity capital formation process, the market innovations driven by the needs of both GPs and LPs and the increasing emphasis on sustainability and impact. We start with an overview of the investor’s – limited partner’s – problem: allocating capital to private equity managers, funds and co-direct investments. The course covers the major types of limited partners, including both the traditional LPs, such as pensions, endowment, and insurers, and the fastest growing global LP segments, such as sovereign wealth funds in Asia and the Middle East, family offices, and private wealth in Europe and Asia. We will investigate how illiquidity and the absence of periodic mark-to-markets stress the traditional portfolio construction problem. The private equity industry has experienced several financial innovations that have altered the risk-return profile and impacted the set of investors able to access the asset class. We will discuss secondary transactions, evergreen structures, and co-investments. Finally, given their size and political influence, institutional investors are at the forefront of sustainability and ESG initiatives. The course will cover how private equity uniquely addresses these challenges. The course includes lectures, case discussions, and guest speakers. The topics covered in the class include:

- Capital formation: the global landscape of institutional LP capital
- Sovereign wealth funds, private wealth, and family offices
- Secondary transactions for limited partner positions and co-investments
- The role of state-backed capital
- Portfolio construction and management with private equity as a major component
- ESG and other sustainability objectives
- Evergreen funds and fund extension issues

Students interested in careers in any financial industry where they expect to interact with large institutional investors or private equity investors will benefit from this course.

M 6 p.m.-9:15 p.m.
Instructor: Kevin Lu
Info
1.5 points

Details

FINC B8335

Applied Credit Investing

W 9 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
1.5 points

Details

FINC B8344

Impact Investing

W 9 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
Instructor: Mark Berryman
Info
1.5 points

Details

FINC B8355

Activist Value Investing for Small Cap C

Activist VI for Small Cap

T 6 p.m.-9:15 p.m.
Instructor: Ehsan Ehsani
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3 points

Details

FINC B8357

Strategic Equity Finance

TR 9 a.m.-10:30 a.m.
Instructor: David Erickson
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1.5 points

Details

FINC B8358

Managing Large Pools of Assets for Famil

This course will teach students how to construct investment portfolios for various asset allocation purposes (family offices, endowments, foundations, etc.). The course will teach the history and evolution of the asset allocation industry and its varying schools of thought. The professors will draw on their own insights and frameworks developed at East Rock Capital and several industry practitioner guest speakers. Students will learn how to identify high-conviction investment opportunities in established and emerging managers and direct investment opportunities and how to construct diversified portfolios focused on long-term wealth creation rather than short-term performance. By the end of the class the students will have a strong foundation to start their careers in asset allocation.

The course will focus on identifying specialized managers. Students will analyze case studies of both direct and indirect investments and learn strategies for conducting thorough due diligence. A significant component of the course will involve portfolio construction techniques. Students will learn how to categorize holdings into appropriate buckets (e.g., "Generational Assets," "Liquid Assets," and "Family-Directed Assets") to balance risk, return, and investment goals.

The objective is to equip students with practical frameworks for sophisticated wealth management tailored to multi-generational family investors.

The course will meet weekly, and preparation for each class is critical. We will have several outside speakers to research each week and weekly reading assignments based on that week’s module. The final exam will be a semester-long project to put everything we have learned all semester to work.

This course is most relevant for students interested in asset allocation, wealth management, running a family office, and investing. It is an application-based course that is not open to the bidding process.

T 2:20 p.m.-5:35 p.m.
3 points

Details

FINC B8361

Climate Finance

W 2:20 p.m.-5:35 p.m.
Instructor: Bruce M Usher
Info
1.5 points

Details

FINC B8363

Topics in Strategic Corporate Finance

In the dynamic real world of corporate finance, the difference between success and failure often hinges on strategic decisions made at the Board or C-suite level. "Topics in Strategic Corporate Finance" is an elective course designed for students who want to familiarize themselves with the key strategic financial decisions that firms are likely to face over their lifetime. These decisions can shape the future of corporations.

The course explores pivotal corporate finance events or decisions a firm is likely to encounter across its lifecycle (Figure 1). Topics covered include various forms of private equity such as venture capital, growth equity, and leveraged buyouts, as well as mergers & acquisitions, corporate restructurings, initial public offerings, public and private debt financing, and distressed situations. Additionally, the course delves into critical decisions surrounding capital structure optimization and payout policies. It's not just about learning the theory; it's about applying it in real-world contexts where the stakes are high and the outcomes are transformative.

Building upon the theoretical tools developed in the core Columbia Business School "Corporate Finance" course, this course aims to provide students with direct, firsthand insights into the mechanics of real corporate finance transactions and deal-making. This includes understanding the parties and decisions involved, the regulatory framework, the application of theoretical corporate finance principles and tools, tactics and processes, as well as engagement with shareholders and other stakeholders.

Lectures are supplemented by experience-based discussions drawing from real-world corporate finance transactions. The course also includes guest contributions by active C-suite executives, senior professionals, and corporate finance practitioners who have led or advised on such transactions. The culmination of this course is an end-of-term small group project. Working in teams, students will apply the concepts and strategies discussed throughout the course to present a novel corporate finance idea. The project provides an opportunity to experience the collaborative and strategic decision-making process that defines successful corporate finance professionals. While most students tend to choose a public M&A idea, they can select from a wide array of transactions discussed during the course.

R 2:20 p.m.-5:35 p.m.
Instructor: Luigi Rizzo
Info
3 points

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FINC B8367

Security Analysis

The course’s objective is to present a rational investment philosophy and process for equity security analysis and capital allocation. The course has three sections:

(1) Investment Philosophy and Capital Markets

What is the objective of security analysis and investing?
Why does a value-based methodology win over time?
Does Modern Portfolio Theory explain empirical evidence?
What is more instructive for investment analysis – determining value or expected return?
What is the difference between “cheap” and “mis-priced”?
(2) Investment Process – Valuation and Competitive Strategy

What is the difference between a great business, a good business and a bad business?
How can we evaluate when a business and/or an industry’s mid-long term economics change?
How can we evaluate company specific structural mis-pricings that exist?
How can we categorize investment opportunities to improve how we value and define them?
How can we define a process to source mis-pricings into investment categories?
What are the commonly used valuation methodologies and which are most instructive for certain situations?
What is the most effective framework for modeling a business and what are the pitfalls?
How can we evaluate management’s history of capital allocation? How important is it and how do we factor this into valuation?
(3) Capital Allocation and Global Macro

What top-down inputs are instructive for a security analyst?
What lessons have we learned from previous bubbles?
Can computing and evaluating asset class expected returns help source where a security analyst might find mis-pricings and compounding opportunities?
How do we evaluate secular headwinds or tailwinds for industries and businesses?
What are the pitfalls of consensus thinking and is there a benefit to seeking the edge of the crowd?
What are the key economic data points that truly inform the analyst where we are in certain cycles?
The curriculum will seek to answer these questions by first reviewing investing principals and concepts. Thereafter we will bring in company executives and investment practitioners to provide real world evidence of these principles in action and allow for students to participate in a
thoughtful, factual dialogue.

W 2:20 p.m.-5:35 p.m.
Instructor: Christopher Begg
Info
3 points

Details

FINC B8368

Applied Value Investing

FM 6 p.m.-9:15 p.m.
R 6 p.m.-9:15 p.m.
T 2:20 p.m.-5:35 p.m.
FM 6 p.m.-9:15 p.m.
R 2:20 p.m.-5:35 p.m.
Instructor: Kevin Oro-Hahn
Info
3 points

Details

FINC B8373

Advanced Investment Research

M 6:30 p.m.-9:30 p.m.
Instructor: Kian Ghazi
Info
3 points

Details

FINC B8380

Mental Models, Investment Fram

W 2:20 p.m.-5:35 p.m.
3 points

Details

FINC B8382

Derivatives (Full-Term)

Successful investing in equities markets requires more than just picking stocks given the wide array of equity products at a portfolio managers disposal. This course is intended to explain how derivative products like options, futures, ETFs, structured notes, portfolio trades, credit default swaps and convertible bonds are structured, valued and used by all types of investors globally.The course is designed from both the perspective of the trader who has to account for the real-world costs of hedging derivatives and the investor who cares primarily how the derivative can improve the return or reduce the risk of his/her portfolio. It should complement other classes you have had on derivatives.My course notes have been, developed from the experiences I have had working with institutional and private clients for 18 years at Goldman Sachs.The course is broken into three sections:Indices, Exchange Traded Funds, Futures, Swaps and Portfolio Trading The course starts with a discussion of "Delta 1" equity derivatives, or products that move one for one with the underlying security.Equity Options, Credit Derivatives and Convertibles and Structured Notes Drawing on what youve already learned in other options classes, we explore options based equity and credit products, like equity options, structured notes, credit default swaps and convertible bonds. The goal of this portion of the course is to focus on what real-world factors influence trading in these products and show how they are linked to one another.Strategies A large component of this course involves exploring how investors use these products. Some investors, like pension, mutual and hedge funds, are driven by economic and risk management needs solely in their use of equity derivatives. Corporations, individuals and insurance companies worry about accounting, legal and tax considerations, so any discussion of how they use derivatives requires we cover those issues.Investors outside the United States have unique strategies because of the way the markets developed in Europe and Asia. We discuss these strategies in the last few classes.The material will be delivered through a combination of lectures, guest speakers, case studies and readings. Guest speakers include trading and research business leaders at investment banks and pension funds, as well as investment management institutions."

T 6 p.m.-9:15 p.m.
Instructor: Mark Zurack
CULPA: 1 Info
3 points

Details

FINC B8384

Hedge Funds

T 6 p.m.-9:15 p.m.
Instructor: Fa Savoldelli
Info
3 points

Details

FINC B8389

Legal Financial Arbitrage: Merger Arbitr

This class will focus on an increasingly important (yet academically underdeveloped) area of intersection in law and finance: Legal-Financial Arbitrage (LFA). This field is a subset of financial arbitrage, a well-known practice of spotting hard-to-justify price differences among two (or more) identical (or highly correlated) investments and then capitalizing on those differences in a riskless (or nearly riskless) way. LFA is a subset of financial arbitrage, but LFA focuses on pricing differences occasioned by legal/regulatory uncertainties or anomalies (e.g., contract interpretation and enforceability, regulatory status and enforcement, etc.), capitalizing on those differences using the tools of arbitrage trading.

LFA is a true cross-profession enterprise. Although financial arbitrage is nothing new in financial markets, and assessing legal risks is the stock-in-trade for attorneys, the two skill sets have started to intersect meaningfully in LFA, as so-called “strategic situation” and “merger arbitrage” traders have increasingly focused their attention on legal matters that may not be fully appreciated by other market participants, either because they are less attentive to legal and regulatory situations or because the trade rests on unique judgments about how legal matters will unfold.

The most commonly employed LFA trading strategies concern announced M&A transactions (which provide a natural setting where the value of an M&A target’s stock should home in on a known value at a future time if a deal closes). We will focus much of our attention on M&A transactions. But like LFA trading generally, we will not be so limited. LFA opportunities exist in many other law-relevant domains, such as corporate governance and board control fights, bankruptcies, commercial/IP litigation, and mass tort claims. What will link all the situations we study, however, is the central importance of combining sound legal assessments to generate (probabilistic) forecasts of the outcomes of these situations, to assess how these outcomes will affect prices of the firms’ traded securities. We will discuss how biased beliefs and the risks faced by market participants can lead to investment opportunities. Finally, we will discuss the implementation of optimal arbitrage positions. Accordingly, we hope to facilitate dialogues and innovative idea generation
between
JD and MBA students (working in teams).

R 4:20 p.m.-6:10 p.m.
Instructor: Kent Daniel
h-index: 25 Info
2 points

Details

FINC B8394

Short Selling

There’s an old Wall Street adage: “Don’t short valuation.” So, is everything else fair game? What about frauds, are those sure things? The purpose of this class is to answer these questions and equip students to profitably employ short-selling investment strategies. We will introduce students to all aspects of short-selling. However, we will assume that students have prior knowledge of the basics mechanics of shorting a stock, as well as various accounting tricks and “shenanigans” that companies employ to mask weaknesses in their business. To that end, we will provide some materials that should be reviewed before the start of class to review these concepts.

In class, we will first dig into the academic literature behind short selling. We will discuss what has worked historically, and whether or not it has been successful as of late. We will then read and discuss case studies on “famous” shorts and frauds. We will, with the benefit of hindsight, try to identify inflection points in the arc of each company. The students will also become familiar with the risks of shorting frauds too early. We will examine various short selling strategies, including “activist shorting”, that are currently being employed in the markets. We will evaluate what elements make for a compelling short “pitch.” Additionally, students will learn about idea sourcing, portfolio management, risk management, and compliance.

While the title and focus of the class is “Short Selling,” it is important to note that the techniques and investment approaches we will discuss are highly applicable to long-focused investing as well. Deciding not to own a security that is included in a tracking index is functionally the same as shorting the security, and understanding a company’s true profitability (and not the version that it promotes through its accounting decisions) is highly important for valuation efforts. A deep and skeptical research approach should assist fundamental analysts in all fields. We will approach this topic from both theoretical and practical perspectives, drawing heavily on the academic literature around short selling as well as highly-experienced practitioners. We will examine what makes a profitable short, and pay particular attention to unsuccessful shorts and
how to avoid them. The mosaic of analysis will include accounting, market microstructure, fundamental factors, behavioral finance, value-added research, and various v

T 6 p.m.-9:15 p.m.
1.5 points

Details

FINC B8401

Cities Disrupted, Cities Transformed

R 6 p.m.-9:15 p.m.
1.5 points

Details

FINC B8408

Private Equity

FMW 9 a.m.-10:30 a.m.
FMW 10:50 a.m.-12:20 p.m.
Instructor: Emmanuel Yimfor
Info
1.5 points

Details

FINC B8414

Advanced Private Equity

R 6 p.m.-9:15 p.m.
None None-None
Instructor: Aamir Rehman
Info
Instructor: Faculty
h-index: 37 Info
1.5 points

Details

FINC B8415

Private Equity Leverage

Leveraged Buyout. The term itself has a mystique to many people, but at its core it refers to buying a company (a “buyout”) using leverage (i.e., debt), usually a lot of it. While many types of business owners can utilize borrowings to fund an acquisition, the term is synonymous with private equity firms buying companies using significant amounts of borrowed capital. Leveraged buyouts date back to the 1960s, when the predecessors of the original private equity firms were bootstrapping deals together. While much has changed in the intervening decades—including the development and maturation of the private equity industry—some things have not, including leverage's importance in any buyout. Without one or more lenders or other credit providers, there cannot be a leveraged buyout; therefore, lenders and credit investors are important stakeholders in closing every private equity buyout. In addition, the leverage places certain constraints on the borrower, so the lender or credit provider is a key stakeholder in the ultimate success of the private equity firm’s investment.

By its nature, the financing of leveraged transactions is significantly different from that of large-cap publicly traded or Fortune 500 companies, which often have access to low-cost commercial paper, the investment-grade bond market, global banks, and numerous other parts of the capital markets. While those companies may borrow tens of billions of dollars from banks and other sources, those companies’ debt is typically considered relatively low risk (perhaps having a low debt-to-cap ratio or denoted as “investment grade”). Today, leverage in buyouts is often 40%, 50%, or even 60%+ of the company’s total capitalization. Underwriting for these deals in significantly different than traditional underwriting.

This course will cover the topic of leverage used in private equity buyouts
1
: why leverage is important, various commonly deployed forms of leverage, and trends in the overall marketplace (including the rapid growth of private credit, especially in the middle market). This course will provide:

an understanding of the various forms of leverage commonly deployed by private equity firms (and other business owners) in transactions, including borrowings from banks and private credit firms and through the issuance of high-yield bonds

the experience of acti

W 2:20 p.m.-5:35 p.m.
Instructor: Eric Rogoff
Info
3 points

Details

FINC B8416

Private Equity Deals

T 9 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
1.5 points

Details

FINC B8417

Digital Investing

T 2:20 p.m.-5:35 p.m.
Instructor: Jonathan A Knee
h-index: 5 Info
3 points

Details

FINC B8429

International Finance

T 6 p.m.-9:15 p.m.
1.5 points

Details

FINC B8432

Foundations of VC

W 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
T 2:20 p.m.-5:35 p.m.
None None-None
Instructor: Angela W Lee
Info
Instructor: Owen E Davis
Info
Instructor: Faculty
h-index: 37 Info
1.5 points

Details

FINC B8439

Modern Value

MTWRF 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Instructor: Tano Santos
h-index: 27 Info
3 points

Details

FINC B8444

Real Estate Debt Markets

This half session "B" course is focused primarily on the commercial real estate debt markets and is complimented by the half session "A" course, Real Estate Equity Markets. Students may wish to take both half courses sequentially for a complete understanding of the Real Estate Capital Markets or individually. The purpose of this course is to provide the student with a comprehensive understanding of both theory and practice in the commercial real estate debt markets both from the perspective of capital providers as well as property investors. The approach will be to make sure students first have a thorough grasp of the relevant theories and models used to value these assets and then to apply that understanding to reality seeing the limitations of the theory. Students will learn how to underwrite, size, and analyze a variety of commercial real estate debt including balance sheet first mortgage loans, first mortgage loans for securitization and CMBS, and subordinate debt structures including mezzanine loans, B- notes and preferred equity. The course will also teach the student how to analyze the $800 billion CMBS market, the largest commercial real estate debt market and the associated CRE CDO, CRE CLO and CMBX markets both from a theoretical and practical perspective. These markets finance about one quarter of all commercial real estate debt. They were also at the heart of the recent commercial real estate bubble, collapse and rebirth. Some time will also be devoted to agency "CMBS (multifamily)" markets including FNMA DUS MBS, FHLMC K certificates and Ginnie Mae Project and construction loan certificates. As a final project, students will be grouped into teams and given commercial real estate securities to analyze on a Bloomberg to make investment decisions. All students who would like to understand these critical markets and their connection to the commercial property markets are welcome. The course would be particularly appropriate for students wishing to pursue careers in real estate finance and/or trading, creating, investing in, researching, selling or regulating commercial real estate securities. The course is also recommended for students wishing to pursue careers as developers or investors in commercial real estate properties themselves (" the dirt") but want to understand how to fund their ventures via these instruments and how volatility in the real estate debt capital markets for these instruments can create opportunities and risks in the property markets themselves.

T 6 p.m.-9:15 p.m.
Instructor: Brian P Lancaster
Info
1.5 points

Details

FINC B8453

Real Estate Equity Securities

REITs have existed as a legal form for over 55 years, but the modern REIT era can be traced to the early 1990’s. Since that time, the sector has grown from approximately $5.0 billion in assets to over $1.0 trillion. More importantly, the migration of assets and talent into the public markets has helped make REITs one of the primary drivers of value creation in the real estate industry as well as a repository of operating expertise. By some estimates REITs today comprise 15.0% - 20.0% of the investible commercial real estate market; given significant competitive advantages, that share is growing. The net result has been irrevocable structural change and increased stability across the real estate industry. The REIT sector has evolved into a very viable and credible investment class; the group now comprises a significant weighting in the major stock indices with its own industry classification. Real Estate Equity Securities Analysis will serve as a substantive introduction to the companies that comprise the REIT and real estate securities sectors, conceptually and as an investment. The course will provide the requisite analytical tools to value real estate stocks; we will utilize conventional securities analysis tools, on an applied basis. It will also look holistically at the REITs as operating entities, specifically how these companies work and what they are worth. We will incorporate qualitative, strategic and technical considerations into the quantitative valuation analyses – to reach more rigorous and successful investment conclusions. Rhetorically, the course will utilize a combination of lectures and case studies, interactive group exercises and discussion. Notably, guest speakers will include senior executives from issuing REITs as well as buy-side securities investors – both hedge fund and global portfolio managers. The final project will group students into teams to select a specific REIT security and prepare a stock recommendation for presentation to an investment committee. Real Estate Equity Securities Analysis will provide the actionable skills and broad analytical insight to participate successfully -– as an investor or as a partner – in a sector that has emerged as one of the most important drivers of the real estate industry globally. Student Profiles: Real Estate Equity Securities is designed to be a second year, upper-level finance course. The pre-requisites below highlight the need for a working knowledge of fundamental real estate concepts, corporate finance, and

T 6 p.m.-9:15 p.m.
Instructor: Ross L Smotrich
Info
1.5 points

Details

FINC B8454

Blockchain & Cryptocurrencies

R 9 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
3 points

Details

FINC B8462

Residential Real Estate: Dirt, Debt, And

FMW 10:50 a.m.-12:20 p.m.
Instructor: Brian P Lancaster
Info
3 points

Details

FINC B8463

Finance in the Family Firm

RF 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Instructor: Craig S Wo
Info
1.5 points

Details

FINC B8464

The Credit Superhighway

FM 2:20 p.m.-5:35 p.m.
3 points

Details

FINC B8473

Investing in Medical Technolog

This course focuses on the critical factors and approaches that managers and sophisticated investors use to identify and value attractive business opportunities and investments in the medical technologies sector. It will provide students with an understanding of the current economic and competitive environment for the development and commercialization of new medical devices, including regulatory, pricing, and reimbursement factors. It will highlight new emerging technologies in the field, and explore how to assess such novel technologies and build commercial models for valuation purposes.

Guest speakers from the medical device industry (company executives, physicians/ surgeons, investors, investment bankers) and investment case studies will be used to provide students with practical insight into this complex sector. Critical issues to be examined include:
- Strategies and risks associated with discovering, developing, and approving new medical technologies, including impact of government oversight and regulation;
- Pricing/reimbursement and health policy/ legislative matters impacting the medical technology sector; - Keys to evaluating novel medical technologies and analyzing business drivers and future performance of medical device & diagnostic companies (public and private);
- How to build commercial models, including valuation methodologies that successful investors use to value/price companies in this sector;
- Conducting due diligence and market analysis on medical technologies from which to formulate investment ideas;
- Considerations in taking long and short investment positions in this sector.

The course is cross-functional in its approach and focuses on real-world" problems currently facing senior managers and investors in this sector. This course will be useful for students interested in careers in the life science and healthcare services sectors, as well as healthcare consulting, investment banking, equity research, venture capital, private equity, and investment management given the large and growing healthcare practices of such firms. Some understanding of, or experience in, the healthcare/medical technologies sector will be highly valuable."

M 6 p.m.-9:15 p.m.
Instructor: Efrem J Kamen
Info
1.5 points

Details

FINC B8746