Burcu Esmer

Burcu Esmer
  • Visiting Faculty

Contact Information

  • office Address:

    2455 Steinberg-Dietrich Hall
    3620 Locust Walk
    Wharton School
    University of Pennsylvania
    Philadelphia, PA 19104

Research Interests: Empirical corporate finance: agency conflicts, and their impact on corporate policies

Links: Personal Website

Overview

Burcu Esmer is a Senior Research Fellow at  Wharton Joshua J. Harris Alternative Investments Program and a  faculty member at the Wharton School.  Dr. Esmer earned her BSc in Economics and Minor in Mathematics from the Middle East Technical University (Turkiye) with Highest Honor (Summa Cum Laude), her MA in Economics and PhD in Finance from the University of Iowa. Dr. Esmer’s primary areas of research are empirical corporate finance, banking and private equity. She investigates agency conflicts, and their impact on corporate policies. Dr. Esmer has presented her work to different audiences at various academic and practioner conferences and workshops, and she frequently serves as a reviewer for academic journals and conferences. Burcu Esmer is a member of American Finance Association and European Finance Association. 

Dr. Esmer teaches various private equity topics in  Wharton Executive Education  programs. She is the recipient of Wharton Teaching Excellence Reward for the academic year 2018-2019.

Dr. Esmer also serves on the  Advisory Board of Girls Who Invest.

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Teaching

Past Courses

  • FNCE203 - ADVANCED CORP FINANCE

    The objective of this course is to study the major decision-making areas of managerial finance and some selected topics in financial theory. The course reviews the theory and empirical evidence related to the investment and financing policies of the firm and attempts to develop decision-making ability in these areas. This course serves as an extension of FNCE 100 (FNCE 611). Some are as of financial management not covered in FNCE 100 are covered in FNCE 203. These may include leasing, mergers and acquisitions, corporate reorganizations, financial planning and working capital management, and some other selected topics. Other areas that are covered in FNCE 100 are covered more in depth and more rigorously in FNCE 203. These include investment decision making under uncertainty, cost of capital, capital structure, pricing of selected financial instruments and corporate liabilities, and dividend policy. During the Spring semester, Professor Opp does not allow students to take this course pass fail.

  • FNCE251 - FNCE OF BUYOUTS & ACQS

    The course focuses on financial tools, techniques, and best practices used in buyouts (financial buyers) and acquisitions (strategic buyers). While it will touch upon various strategic, organizational, and general management issues, the main lens for studying these transactions will be a financial one. It will explore how different buyers approach the process of finding, evaluating, and analyzing opportunities in the corporate-control market; how they structure deals and how deal structure affects both value creation and value division; how they add value after transaction completion; and how they realize their ultimate objectives (such as enhanced market position or a profitable exit). The course is divided into two broad modules. The first module covers mergers and acquisitions, and the second one studies buyouts by private equity partnerships. During the spring semester this course cannot be taken pass/fail.

  • FNCE384 - ADVANCED TOPICS IN PE

    This course will address a variety of applied topics in private equity (PE), with a focus on growth and later-stage buyout transactions (venture capital is not explicitly addressed in this course), and a primarily U.S.-centric view that should be largely applicable in other markets. In addition, the course will focus on the transaction stage of PE investing i.e., the art of the deal and mostly leave aside deal sourcing, portfolio management and investor relations. The goal of this course is to educate students about the substance, process and mechanics of PE investing, through the lens of the investment professionals, counterparties and advisors that drive transactions to completion. Course topics will address the entire deal process, and will include the following: Commercial Diligence (incl. financial modeling); Debt Financing; Accounting Diligence; Sales & Purchase Agreements; Comps Analysis; and Other Advisory Work. Throughout the course, students will learn about each element of the deal process through in-class lectures, while concurrently apply those learnings to a real-time mock deal, and preparing dealmaterials that mirror a real private equity transaction. The in-class lectures will cover both conceptual frameworks and real-world examples.

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