My courses blend theory will practice gained from personal experience. They have been developed and delivered globally to a range of client organisations involved in commerce, industry and financial services. In addition to having extensive experience of running in-company programmes, I have had considerable involvement with leading open training programmes for major training organisations, like Euromoney, FT Knowledge/New York Institute of Finance, IIR and the International Faculty of Finance.
The courses link both theory and practice via a number of different delivery methods, involving:
1. Case studies developed from personal experience
2. Current topical and real-life examples
3. Computer aided exercises and role plays
4. Group working
5. Practical sessions to consolidate the learning experience
The courses can be delivered as follows:
The following are courses that are available and that have been delivered as open training programmes and adapted for private clients, and if you click on any of them you will see a detailed breakdown of the contents:
Senior Manager
Risk Workshop
Financial Modelling for Corporate Finance
Investment
Banking
Structured
Finance Course
Corporate Finance Techniques
Financial Modelling
for Valuation
Financial
Restructuring
CFOs Workshop
Expert Techniques for Merger and Acquisitions
Essentials of
Valuation Analysis
Company and Equity Valuation Techniques
Cost of Capital
Acquisition
Finance Workshop
Financial Controllers & CFOs Workshop
Applied
Corporate Finance
Budgeting, Financial Strategy and Driving Business Value
Venture Capital
Financial Analysis
and Forecasting
Private Equity
Course Introduction
Organisations of all types are being exposed to risk management. For example, banks have long been subject to regulatory exposure from the Basle Accord and a revision to this has recently been published that will have profound implications for senior banking management. Furthermore in the UK the Turnbull Report requires all listed plcs to assess their risk management capabilities. Shareholders and other stakeholders, such as employees and customers, are becoming increasingly critical. The way that companies deal with risk is emerging as a differentiating factor. Successful companies will be those that are not afraid to embrace risk because they understand it and can manage it. However, a major obstacle is that risk is very often seen as someone else's problem whereas in reality it is everybody's problem. In short, if you don't manage your risks, they will manage you.
It is being increasingly recognised that there are important interrelationships between different types of risk and that a more comprehensive, integrated and disciplined approach to its management and mitigation is required than has often been the case in the past. Risk needs to be viewed more broadly than by the traditional classifications adopted in terms of country, counterparty and market, although these categories are still important. There are different levels of risk, like strategic and tactical. Strategic risk, for example, acknowledges the business as being an integrated entity. A simple illustration is a bank, which packages and trades financial risks in order to deliver higher returns. Strategic risk decision-making is based on the fact that risk (and its resulting expected returns) is not a by-product of the business, but is the product of the business. It is decision-making based on the view that detailed risk intelligence provides a competitive advantage-an edge in delivering both better products to customers and better returns to shareholders. In contrast, tactical risk management is decision-making based on the view that the business is a collection of semi-autonomous agencies each of which manages its book or risk management task separately. In the case of a bank, it assumes that risk can be managed one security or one desk at a time. Analysing risks tactically can be important to anticipate and identify possible courses of action for the purposes of mitigation, but an integrated perspective is indispensable.
Last, but not least, risk measurement, management and mitigation is often associated with the banking world and is perceived as being of limited relevance to non-financial institutions. Nothing could be further from the truth! International guidelines from bodies such as the OECD, coupled with national initiatives like the UK Combined Code and Turnbull corporate governance guidelines, require companies to identify, assess, manage and report on all risks that could affect their stakeholders. As a result, risk in its broadest sense has become a boardroom issue. It encompasses not merely those uncertainties that can be transferred to the insurance and financial markets, but also strategic, environmental and ethical issues in both those and other markets. It is, therefore, vital that both the Board and senior management know the top 10 risks they face and also set the tone for developing a more risk mature organisation.
The key focus of the course is upon the risk management process. This is the process by which organizations proactively try to ensure that the risks to which they are exposed are the risks to which they think they are and want/need to be exposed to operate their primary businesses. However risk is classified, a central challenge is in deciding what risks the firm is in the business to bear, or in what risks the firm has a perceived comparative informational advantage.
Course Introduction
The benefits of using spreadsheet modelling for financial management and corporate valuation are undisputed. This training program is intended to provide practical financial modelling techniques and valuation tools for valuing a company and its securities.
Topics Covered Include:
Course Introduction
The term "investment banking" does not have a precise definition, but is generally applied to financial houses which, starting from trading as merchants, expanded their role to financing the trading and commercial activities of others, especially in the international market place. For many years, the British houses were known as merchant banks, reflecting their origins. Investment banks have retained this strong international flavour and often have offices in many other countries, particularly in the major financial centres. While a number of overseas-based investment banks now offer very similar services, some of the best known and longest established firms in the City grew from UK origin.
Typically, an investment banking group provides advisory services in Corporate Finance, often in connection with new issues of securities for raising finance, take-overs, mergers and acquisitions. Increasingly they have strengthened their focus upon investment management for corporate pension funds, charities, private clients, either via direct investment for the more wealthy or via unit and investment trusts. They have also become major players in the private equity market having both direct and indirect involvement in structuring deals.
Despite the variety of investment banking services and the consequent complexity of some of the groups, investment banks are still small when compared with the large clearing or commercial banks. Staff numbers of even the largest investment bank are in the low thousands. Success in the investment banking business depends on the ability to provide whatever financial services a client may require, and so the people employed need particular qualities of flexibility, innovativeness and client handling skills. A crucial part of the investment banker’s toolkit is corporate finance which this course covers comprehensively, with reference to applications like mergers and acquisitions (M&A), initial public offerings (IPO's) and private equity structures, like leveraged buy outs (LBO's).
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Course Introduction
A program with comprehensive case studies designed for investment professionals
Understand common financing & legal structures used in the structured markets.
Identify the roles of key transaction participants and follow the flow of funds through various structures.
Recognise potential opportunities for their institution to participate in the asset backed market.
Know the resources available to them for analysing and evaluating a particular structure.
Anticipate & identify the risks within various structures.
Delegates will learn the conceptual framework for understanding and evaluating Structured Financing.
WHY STRUCTURED FINANCE?
Structured finance is therefore becoming increasingly important both to the corporate and the financial community. Worldwide private sector investment in project finance deals alone currently exceeds $100 billion, and is expected to continue to grow rapidly over the next few years.
Course Introduction
The course covers many applications of corporate finance, like as mergers and acquisitions (M&A), initial public offerings (IPO's), private equity structures like leveraged buy outs (LBO's), and how to manage a business to create value via value based management (VBM). However, a key element is that the course demonstrates how the many different applications draw upon a common core framework based upon the principles of financial economics that is reviewed on the first day.
When putting together any corporate finance deal, the creation of value is vital. For example, the evidence suggests that the majority of M&A transactions fail to add value for the acquirer's shareholders and misplaced acquisition programmes often result in financial distress or bankruptcy. All too often incorrect principles, perhaps drawn from the world of accounting may be applied to M&A and other corporate finance transactions. This course identifies clearly the importance of cash and other economic indicators as benchmarks for success to help avoid expensive mistakes.
In summary, corporate finance techniques and structures offer many companies the opportunity for growth, but problems occur when these different financing structures are either not fully understood or the wrong strategy is implemented. The development of this understanding is a key feature of the course with financial economics being valuation key themes throughout. Upon return to your organisation you should be fully prepared to put your learning into practice so as to be equipped to manage in a volatile economic climate.
Course Introduction
The benefits of using spreadsheet modelling for financial management and corporate valuation are undisputed. This training program is intended to provide practical financial modelling techniques and valuation tools for valuing a company.
Topics Covered Include:
The benefits of using spreadsheet modelling for financial management and corporate valuation are undisputed. This training program is intended to provide practical financial modelling techniques and valuation tools for valuing a company.
Topics Covered Include:
Course Introduction
Plan, evaluate and monitor all financial aspects of the restructuring process.
Develop a detailed understanding of portfolio, management and financial restructuring
Identify, assess and manage the risks associated with restructuring
Acquire an understanding of buy outs, leveraged recapitalisations and debt: equity swaps
Assess the debt capacity and potential for refinancing
Use strategic value analysis (SVA) to value a company
Understand the importance of the cost of capital and peer group analysis
Course Objectives
The recent economic volatility in Asia has forced many companies to undertake restructuring as a strategic option in order to remain operational. However, with the region presently enjoying renewed optimism, new opportunities are once again presenting themselves. In order to be effectively positioned to take advantage of these opportunities, organisations will have to once again undergo change. With this in mind and drawing on extensive experience with restructuring processes, Roger Mills and Euromoney have composed this comprehensive training program. The course will lead you through the different phases of the restructuring process: situation audit, planning, evaluation and monitoring. The financial techniques and concepts for each of these phases will be explained, discussed and applied through case studies, exercises and computer simulations.
On completion of this course attendees will:
Master all financial techniques for planning, evaluating and monitoring restructuring processes
Have an in-depth knowledge of portfolio, management and financial restructuring
Be able to identify, assess and manage the risks associated with restructuring
Have a detailed understanding of buy outs, leveraged recapitalisations and debt: equity swaps
Be able to assess the debt capacity and potential for refinancing
Know how to apply strategic value analysis (SVA)
Understand the significance of cost of capital and peer group analysis in the restructuring process
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Course Introduction
A Unique Course Tailored to meet the Specific Needs of Top Finance Professionals, Finance Directors, Financial Controllers, Financial Analysts & Management Accountants.
Examine recent trends in performance measurement and cost management
Understand how to link value and performance using Economic Value Added (EVA) analysis
Apply the latest techniques for estimating the real cost of capital
Understand the importance of shareholder value in managing organisations of all types to create value
Review the Balanced Scorecard and quality modeling for linking the demands of the customer with those of other stakeholders
Analyse the latest principles in Value Based Management and Strategic Value Analysis
Financial Controllers & Finance Directors Course
Course Background
Increasing global competition, new business opportunities, technological advancements, better-cost control, shorter product and market cycles, together with the recent economic turbulence, are all putting added pressure and responsibility on Financial Managers in the Asia Pacific.
As well as effectively meeting these challenges, Financial Managers must also increasingly shoulder the pressure of measuring and controlling the Cost of Capital and creating Shareholder Value, which, to be completed successfully, require a comprehensive understanding of new and innovative techniques. EuromoneyМs Financial Controllers & CFOs Workshop will examine in detail these and other important aspects of the Financial Manager's duties, including strategic cost management, performance measurement and advanced budgeting.
An effective finance function must work alongside management as business partners and become a core advisor in key corporate strategies and decision-making. This comprehensive 4-day course will show you exactly how this can be done.
Teaching Methods
This is an intensive and interactive training workshop that combines formal lecture sessions with practical case study exercises wherever possible, ensuring that delegates leave with a comprehensive understanding of the topics discussed.
Increase Your Understanding of the Following Important Areas
Value Based Management
Performance Measurement
Balanced Scorecard
Process Focused Management
Target and Strategic Cost Management
Shareholder and Strategic Value Analysis
Cost of Capital Analysis
Course Introduction
The overall objective of the Expert Techniques for Mergers and Acquisitions Course is to present a comprehensive and focused approach to all issues that must be included in the toolkit of successful deal making. The initial focus is upon understanding all of the challenges essential in masterminding the deal, from its inception, to completion of the transaction and implementation. As such, it draws heavily upon the use of the tools of corporate finance to ensure that value creating strategies are selected, and the appropriate techniques are applied, like carefully structured synergy assessment. Negotiation and related transaction issues are dealt with in the latter part of the course in recognition that often the high stakes involved, combined with extreme time pressure and limited understanding of how to manage the negotiation process, may cause mistakes to happen. The focus is upon negotiating the key aspects of the transaction which impact value for both buyer and seller and on creating the right framework and strategy for enhancing value to the seller or retaining value for the buyer.
The courses cover M&A from the perspective of both strategic and financial buyers, making it of relevance to those developing an in-house capability to acquire; those involved in an advisory capacity, like consultants or lawyers; plus participants in privately financed deals, like buy-outs.
Course Introduction
Following the resounding success of Dr Roger Mills globally, we are pleased to announce that he is now offering programmes directly to the financial Community. The following programme on Essentials of Equity Analysis is a must for the financial practitioner. Dr Roger Mills specialises in programmes designed to get you to carry out as well as understand key issues that your corporation is facing.
This programme is relevant to:
The success of all corporate transactions whether internally as part of a managing for value (sometimes called value based management) programme, or externally for purposes of acquisition, merger, divestment, buy-out, depends upon putting an accurate value on the corporate entity involved. This course explains the underpinnings of the concepts, principles and techniques of corporate valuation and provides the foundations for the 2-Day Essentials of Valuation Analysis Programme.
This programme is being provided by Dr Roger Mills an expert in company valuation who has consulted to numerous global companies over the last few years.
The Course Outline
The number of valuation techniques available is more numerous and complex than ever before. How do you decide between? This training course will give you a solid understanding of:
This course will develop your valuation skills, enable you to identify and implement appropriate techniques and enable you to understand common errors made by practitioners.
Course Introduction
The success of all corporate transactions whether internally as part of a managing for value (sometimes called value based management) programme, or externally for purposes of acquisition, merger, divestment, buy-out, depends upon putting an accurate value on the corporate entity involved.
This course explains the concepts, principles and techniques of corporate valuation and shows participants how they can be applied in practice. To benefit fully from this course, some understanding of accounting concepts and applications is necessary; if you do not have this, we suggest that you attend ''The Essentials of Valuation Analysis'' course, which takes place immediately prior to this.
This briefing will also provide you with an understanding of circumstances when valuations are necessary, the concept of shareholder value, the crucial difference between cash and accrual accounting, the main valuation techniques and how they are used, the options for raising finance, how to structure financial packages, the practical aspects of public company takeovers, and the skills to value a private company for sale.
This programme is being provided by Dr Roger Mills an expert in company valuation, and has consulted to numerous global companies over the last few years.
The Course Outline
The number of valuation techniques available is more numerous and complex than ever before. How do you decide between? This training course will reinforce your understanding of:
This course will develop your valuation skills, enable you to identify and implement appropriate techniques and enable you to understand common errors made by practitioners.
About This Course
This training course has been specifically designed to cater to delegate requests for an intermediate/advanced programme. It will provide a thorough look at valuation techniques and participants should have a solid understanding of basic valuation techniques prior to the course. The programme will use case study examples to build and explain in more detail the necessary models for business valuation, many of which are computer based so please bring your laptop.
Course Introduction
In everyday life, long-term financial decisions should be guided by asking the simple question, will the return to be obtained from making an investment exceed the opportunity cost (cost of alternatives foregone) of undertaking it. It is simple common sense that nobody would start up in business in the knowledge that it would never earn a return greater than the opportunity cost to be incurred.
This opportunity cost is the cost of capital and at a very basic level the principle of its application is simple to understand. Unfortunately, whilst simple in principle, establishing what this cost of capital is or should be in reality is fraught with problems, as recently revealed in a study published in the Harvard Business Review (Do You Know Your Cost of Capital? by Michael T. Jacobs and Anil Shivdasani / July-Aug. 2012). As the authors identify, "Although investment opportunities vary dramatically across companies and industries, one would expect the process of evaluating financial returns on investments to be fairly uniform". The authors of the study show this not to be so and comment that "respondents probably don’t know as much about their cost of capital as they think they do".
In the financial word the cost of capital plays a prominent role in many areas - for example: project appraisal, project finance, company valuation, initial public offering pricing, mergers and acquisitions, buy-outs, performance measurement, and value based management.
This workshop will take you through the major theories, how to use them and how to overcome the practical challenges in estimating the cost of capital. It will draw upon academic theory and its application as a result of the personal experience of the workshop leader that was obtained working on projects in more than 75 countries over the last 25 years.
The course is designed to help participants to:
Understand the key theories used in practice for calculating the cost of capital and its core components, the cost of debt and cost of equity
Illustrate how to apply the theories correctly in conventional markets
Illustrate how to apply the theories in unconventional markets where challenges exist in finding key inputs like, the risk-free rate, the equity risk premium, and the beta
Illustrate how to apply the cost of capital to foreign investment decisions in developed and emerging markets
Understand and illustrate how to calculate the cost of capital for private companies and business units
Understand the important link between the planning horizon, cost of capital and terminal value
Understand the relationship between leverage and the cost of capital and how to make adjustments for it
Illustrate key issues in specific applications like project appraisal, project finance, company valuation, initial public offering pricing, mergers and acquisitions, buy-outs, private equity, performance measurement, and value based management
Illustrate the role of the cost of capital in capital allocation decisions and understanding capital structure
Course Introduction
This 3-day workshop includes case studies of actual acquisition financings and how the target companies can be valued. It will show how a variety of techniques, including senior secured leveraged loans, vendor finance, second lien and mezzanine debt can serve as a catalyst to help an acquisition get accomplished. Lecture-discussions, spreadsheet analysis, deal memorandums and hands-on exercises will be used to give participants the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding of techniques that can be employed in funding acquisitions.
What is Acquisition Finance?
Acquisition Finance is the use of debt, equity and hybrid financing techniques to achieve an acquisition or leveraged buy-out in a cost effective manner. The focus of this course will be on identifying the financing solutions that match the company's cash-flow based value and are adapted to the client situation - and this may call for non-standard corporate finance techniques and funding sources.
Featuring:
Course Introduction
Global competition, new business opportunities,technological advancements, the need for better cost control, shorter product and market cycles, together with the recent economic turbulence, are all putting added pressure and responsibility on busy financial specialists.
As well as being able to meet these challenges, financial specialists must rise to meet others, like the measurement and control of the cost of capital in their business(es) and the creation of value for shareholders. Responding to all of these demands upon their time and being successful requires a comprehensive understanding of emerging financial principles and techniques, some of which may new or at least less familiar to those who have undergone traditional financial training.
The Financial Controllers & CFOs Workshop will examine in detail these and other important aspects of the financial specialist's responsibilities. The objective is to show how the financial specialist can contribute fully to being a core advisor in key corporate strategies and decision-making.
The course is designed to help participants to:
Course Introduction
This course is practically oriented to show you how to apply the principles of corporate finance to the analysis of many important issues, including M&A, IPO's, restructuring, managing for value, and LBO's. A key feature is that the course demonstrates how the different applications draw upon a common core framework based upon the principles of financial economics that is reviewed on the first day. In addition, it draws upon the instructor’s extensive experience of working in developing markets, where the application the principles of corporate finance raises some specific challenges, not least because of the limited availability of data.
When putting together any corporate finance deal, the creation of value is vital. For example, the evidence suggests that the majority of M&A transactions fail to add value for the acquirer's shareholders and misplaced acquisition programmes often result in financial distress or bankruptcy. All too often incorrect principles, perhaps drawn from the world of accounting may be applied to M&A and other corporate finance transactions. This course demonstrates the importance of applying the principles of corporate finance correctly to help avoid expensive mistakes.
This course will help you acquire a practical working knowledge of:
Course Introduction
How much more could your company be worth and how can you help to achieve this?
Companies often have enormous potential to increase the intrinsic value of their businesses – and this may often be much greater than management believes or expects. Achieving consistently superior value growth is arguably what distinguishes great companies from all others.
Driving business value as a principle is not new and yet many businesses have failed to grasp that it is something that can be explicitly managed. The process of driving business value, or ‘Managing for Value’, shows how to link long-term goals expressed in the financial strategy with day-to-day management tools, like budgeting. As a process, it requires a fresh look at what each business and function can and should do to unlock new sources of value growth.
This comprehensive 3–day course is designed to help delegates to:
Course Introduction
This course covers the theory and practice of venture capital financing of entrepreneurial firms.
Topics to be discussed include, but are not limited to, the following areas:
1. The venture capital industry and other sources of funds for financing new ventures (including angel investors, banks and other institutions).
2. Venture fundraising and characteristics of venture capital firms:
(a) Limited partnerships
(b) Corporate venture capital
3. Characteristics of entrepreneurial ventures at different stages of development:
(a) Seed, Start-up,
(b) Expansion, Mezzanine,
(c) Buyout, Turnaround,
(d) Privately owned firms,
(e) Newly listed firms
4. The structure of financial contracts:
(a) Staging, Syndication,
(b) Forms of finance (debt, convertible debt, preferred equity, convertible preferred equity, common equity, warrants, and combinations of these instruments),
(c) Board representation,
(d) Restrictive covenants and confidentiality agreements,
(e) Legal and institutional barriers to efficient venture capital financial contracting,
5. Exiting investments:
(a) Initial Public Offerings (IPOs),
(b) Mergers / Strategic Acquisitions,
(c) Secondary Sales, Buybacks, Write-offs,
(d) Partial exits,
(e) Legal and institutional barriers to efficient exit strategies,
6. Entrepreneurial firm valuation.
(a) Traditional valuation methods,
(b) Valuation of private equity firms,
7. Buyouts and Going-Private Transactions
(a) (a)Special features of buyouts transactions,
(b) Do buyouts add value?
8. Venture Capital and Private Equity Investments in an International Context
Course Introduction
This intensive, 5-day course covers the fundamentals of financial analysis and forecasting.
The main areas covered are:
• Contents of accounts
• The profit and loss account and balance sheet
• Ratio analysis
• Cash flow analysis
• IFRS, IAS and the IASB
• Creative accounting and fraud
• Economic profit analysis
• Time value of money
• Discounting cash flows
• Introduction to company valuation
• Overview of financial management
• Introduction to spreadsheets
• Developing forecasts
• Presenting financial information
The course is ideal for those who seek a proper grounding in the fundamentals of financial analysis and forecasting.
Delegates are required to carry out a significant amount of financial manipulation and will involve the use of spreadsheet software in a number of cases. The case studies are designed to enable the delegate to take ownership of the knowledge offered by applying it to a case immediately after the relevant presentation. This is further reinforced by the completion of group cases towards the end of the course.
Delegates are encouraged to ask questions and develop their knowledge by enquiry. The presentation style is intensive, inclusive and informal. In the pre-course period delegates are expected to read from cover to cover a complete set of published statutory accounts.
The main areas covered are:
• Contents of accounts
• The profit and loss account and balance sheet
• Ratio analysis
• Cash flow analysis
• IFRS, IAS and the IASB
• Creative accounting and fraud
• Economic profit analysis
• Time value of money
• Discounting cash flows
• Introduction to company valuation
• Overview of financial management
• Introduction to spreadsheets
• Developing forecasts
• Presenting financial information
The course is ideal for those who seek a proper grounding in the fundamentals of financial analysis and forecasting.
Delegates are required to carry out a significant amount of financial manipulation and will involve the use of spreadsheet software in a number of cases. The case studies are designed to enable the delegate to take ownership of the knowledge offered by applying it to a case immediately after the relevant presentation. This is further reinforced by the completion of group cases towards the end of the course.
Delegates are encouraged to ask questions and develop their knowledge by enquiry. The presentation style is intensive, inclusive and informal. In the pre-course period delegates are expected to read from cover to cover a complete set of published statutory accounts.
Course Introduction
This 3 day course provides a comprehensive insight into Private Equity (PE). It is a practical "how to" programme where what delegates will learn includes:
Core principles and major applications of private equity
What is different about the strategic buyer and the private equity perspective?
Private equity investment strategies, such as:
o Leveraged buyouts
o Venture capital (early vs. late stage)
o Special situations (i.e. distressed)
o Mezzanine
o Secondary purchases
o Fund of funds
How are PE funds structured
How to originate transactions
What are the essential features of leveraged buyouts and how are they structured
The critical importance of due diligence in private equity deals and how to structure/manage the process
Key issues associated with transaction structuring and documentation
Issues in selecting alternative private equity exit strategies
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