Advanced Corporate Finance: Strategies for Optimizing Capital Structure and Maximizing Shareholder Value

Does financial leverage actually matter? What are the benefits, costs and risks associated with it? Is there an optimal amount of leverage? And if firms are highly levered, how should stock market investors adjust for risk? This program is designed to answer these and related questions. In this course, participants will learn about the Nobel prize-winning Modigliani-Miller (MM) Theorem of capital structure, and examine the effects of leverage on firm value and equity risk. They will understand how leverage creates valuable interest tax shields while increasing the risk of financial distress. Through a combination of discussion, case studies and numerical examples, participants will gain hands-on practice with rigorous methods (WACC and APV) to account for leverage in equity or firm valuation or when making investment decisions.