ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Lecturer: Dr. Ho, Diep, PhD [email protected] (Tel. 0946 317 379, Room A1.305, Thu Duc Campus)
Course Aims:
The venture capital industry is core to the engine of growth in developed and, increasingly, in developing countries over the past decades. Many of the largest companies formed as new ventures in the last several decades emerged from an ecosystem in which angel investors, venture capitalists, private equity firms, entrepreneurs and university research all play a role.
More generally, venture capital (VC), is a sub-category of private equity (PE), and represents many common characteristics. VC partnerships raise money from institutional investors and wealthy individuals to take equity stakes in relatively early stage companies. The PE market, in the parlance of most practitioners, refers to the market for buyouts of established companies by private partnerships. Between VC and PE there are partnership investment strategies that include elements of both, such as growth equity. While there are many differences, these sectors all share a framework in which a private partnership identifies investment opportunities and takes a substantial equity stake in a corporation.
The course is motivated by both the current situation and long-term increases in both the supply of and demand for PE and VC in Vietnam. More importantly, however, they face a number of difficulties in gaining access to capital due to an immature capital market, high interest rates, and undervalued property being used as collateral. PE and VC firms not only provide capital for their investee companies but also work with the management to grow and improve them by providing support in financial structuring, strategy, recruitment, and operations to maximize shareholder value. Equally important, the increase in the supply and demand for funds has occurred all over the world.
The primary objective of the course is to provide an understanding of the concepts and institutions involved in entrepreneurial finance and private equity market. Students and executives interested in other categories of private equity may find this course of interest for that reason. Prerequisite course:
Entrepreneurship -- MBA295A, or Comparable work experience of students
Units of Credit:
This course is worth [3 credits]. Teaching times and Locations:
Lecture Time: Tues and Thurs, 6pm-9pm
Venue: Room B101, 3B Lý Tự Trọng, Quận 1, TP.Hồ Chí Minh Academic Integrity:
Integrity is critical to the learning process and to all that we do here at HCMIU. A student’s responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
Attendance:
Regular and punctual attendance at lectures and seminars is expected in this course. University regulations indicate that if students attend less than eighty per cent of scheduled classes they may be refused final assessment. Assessment Details:
The final grade is computed as follows:
Exam shall be semi-open book. Each student, may bring in a calculator and one A4 cheat sheet. Two sides of the sheet may be filled with anything the student wishes, but must be handwritten by him/her (no photocopying).
In addition, since I wish to emphasize practical skills, students shall complete assignments that use actual data, where possible--and to reflect how most companies conduct business, students shall form groups to handle these assignments. Groups shall comprise four to five students – no less, no more. In addition, all group members shall score their team mates on how well they have contributed to the assignment (see "Peer Group Participation Form.doc" in the file cabinet section).
Class participation is important and will be explicitly rewarded (20% of the total grade). Effectively, the class participation grade may change a grade near a cutoff. While we do not penalise occasional tardiness, a pattern of repeated unexplained late arrivals and non-attendance shall negatively impact the class participation grade. Understandably, job search or other obligations may occasionally conflict with class. It is each student’s responsibility to find out from his/her classmates what has been missed during the absence. Textbook:
Course outline:
Suggested Extra Reading:
Module 1: The Private Equity Cycle – Industry Overview, Fund Organization and Structure
The first module of "Venture Capital and Private Equity" examines how private equity firms are organized and structured. The structure of private equity funds, while often arcane and complex, has a profound effect on the behavior of venture and buyout investors. Consequently, it is as important for the entrepreneur raising private equity to understand these issues as it is for a partner in a fund.
Reading suggestion:
Module 2: The Private Equity Cycle – Making Investment Decisions
The second module of the course will prepare you for what many perceive as the core of the venture capital business: making investments and managing relationship between investors and the company they finance. It is not reasonable to present foolproof instructions for making good investments: investment decisions vary widely with time and place and investor. However, we can focus on the decision process for making investments, describe the need for investment strategy, and explain many of the tenets of private equity investing such as the contextual nature of investment decisions. Finally, we will investigate the interactions between private equity investors and the entrepreneurs that they finance. These interactions are at the core of what private equity investors do.
Reading suggestion:
Module 3: The Private Equity Cycle – Achieving Liquidity
The third module of "Venture Capital and Private Equity" examines the process through which private equity investors achieve liquidity for their limited partner investors. Successful exits are critical to insuring attractive returns for investors and, in turn, to raising additional capital. These transactions require different skills and resources than the initial investment decision. Collaboration with other private equity players, such as other venture firms, corporate investors, mezzanine funds, and buy-out firms are key tools of the trade. Also private equity investors' concerns about exiting investments - and their behavior during the financing and exiting process itself - can sometimes lead to severe problems for entrepreneurs. We will employ analytic frameworks, case studies and class guests to investigate and illuminate these processes.
Reading suggestion:
Module 4: The Future of Venture Capital
Our final module will consider the future of the PE industry. In the course of understanding the likely challenges that VC and buyout organizations will face over the next decade. Rather than simply looking at more cases about the same PE groups, however, we will examine organizations that at first glance seem very different from the ones we have considered on the 3 previous modules. Reading suggestion:
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