Burcu Esmer

Past Courses

• 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.