Corporate Finance Theory and Practice, Third Edition

Preface

This book aims to cover the full scope of corporate finance as it is practised today worldwide.

A way of thinking about finance

We are very pleased with the success of the first two editions of the book. It has encouraged us to retain the approach in order to explain corporate finance to students and professionals. There are four key features that distinguish this book from the many other corporate finance textbooks available on the market today:

• Our strong belief that financial analysis is part of corporate finance. Pierre Vernimmen, who was mentor and partner to some of us in the practice of corporate finance, understood very early on that a good financial manager must first be able to analyse a company's economic, financial and strategic situation, and then value it, while at the same time mastering the conceptual underpinnings of all financial decisions.
• Corporate Finance is neither a theoretical textbook nor a practical workbook. It is a book in which theory and practice are constantly set off against each other, in the same way as in our daily practice as investment bankers at BNP Paribas, DGPA and Mediobanca, as board members of several listed and unlisted companies, and as teachers at the Bocconi and HEC Paris business schools.
• Emphasis is placed on concepts, intended to give you an understanding of situations, rather than on techniques, which tend to shift and change over time. We confess to believing that the former will still be valid in 20 years' time, whereas ...