25575 Investment Banking

Warning: The information on this page is indicative. The subject outline for a particular session, location and mode of offering is the authoritative source of all information about the subject for that offering. Required texts, recommended texts and references in particular are likely to change. Students will be provided with a subject outline once they enrol in the subject.

Subject handbook information prior to 2025 is available in the Archives.

UTS: Business: Finance
Credit points: 6 cp

Subject level:

Undergraduate

Result type: Grade and marks

Requisite(s): 25556 The Financial System
These requisites may not apply to students in certain courses.
There are course requisites for this subject. See access conditions.

Description

This subject provides an accessible introduction to the literature on recent developments in the services and transactions provided by investment banks. It provides a complete, yet concise, synthesis of the recent available literature within a logical, analytical structure. It provides important discussions of the four major areas of investment banking, namely mergers and acquisitions, security issuance, financial engineering and international investment. The subject draws on the experience and expertise of senior industry practitioners.

Subject learning objectives (SLOs)

Upon successful completion of this subject students should be able to:

1.	Evaluate the business model of a modern investment bank, with particular emphasis on the ethical aspects of the investment banking industry
2.	Analyse the role of investment banks in helping companies to grow by providing access to capital markets and advisory services
3.	Understand financial valuation models and apply them to the analysis of Mergers and Acquisitions, Leveraged Buyouts and other corporate events

Contribution to the development of graduate attributes

The subject contributes to the aim of preparing students to commence a fulfilling and effective career in business, especially in investment banking and related professions. Its specific contributions are made through its study of investment banking activities.

This subject contributes to the development of the following graduate attributes:

Intellectual rigour and innovative problem solving
Professional and technical competence

Teaching and learning strategies

Lectures are designed to explain essential principles and tutorials are designed to enable students to test and reinforce their learning through attempting practical exercises. On-line and off-line learning opportunities are provided along with other Learning 2014 practices.

Content (topics)

Introduction to investment banking
Investment banking business strategies
Private equity
Mergers and acquisitions
Equity underwriting; debt underwriting
Asset securitisation; repurchase agreements
Financial engineering
Emerging markets
Investment banking trends and challenges.

Assessment

Assessment task 1: Quizzes (Individual)*

Intent:	The average of the students’ highest five quiz results will be used as mark for this assessment.
Objective(s):	This addresses subject learning objective(s): 1, 2 and 3
Weight:	30%
Criteria:	The quizzes are graded on the following criteria: Ability to assess the impact of regulation and market trends on the business model of an investment bank Identification of the effect of internal processes and business practices on the ability to help clients to fulfill their financial growth needs Precision in the understanding of the technical aspects of the most used valuation models *Note: Late submission of the assessment task will not be marked and awarded a mark of zero.

Assessment task 2: Individual assignment (Individual)

Objective(s):	This addresses subject learning objective(s): 3
Weight:	70%
Length:	For the first two assignments the students will simply submit an Excel File with their calculations. For the third assignment students will also submit a short Powerpoint Presentation (Pitchbook) to illustrate the deal to a prospective client. Presentation decks normally span between 20 and 30 slides. The length of the presentation is not, per se, a formal requirement. Students will be assessed on the quality, correctness and completeness of the work.
Criteria:	Correctness of the application of industry-standard valuation models Ability to deal with real-world data and to apply them to the valuation exercises Precision and clarity in communicating the results of the valuation models with a professional tone

Minimum requirements

Students must achieve at least 50% of the subject’s total marks.

Required texts

The reference materials for all the lectures are taken from the following books. All the books are available for free online via the O'Reilly Learning platform accessible via the UTS library. More information available in Canvas.

[ROS] Joshua Pearl and Joshua Rosenbaum, Investment Banking (3rd Edition): Valuation, LBOs, M&A, and IPOs , ISBN: 978-1119706182, Wiley, 2020.

[STO] David Stowell, Investment Banks, Hedge Funds, and Private Equity 2nd Edition, ISBN: 978-0124158207, Academic Press, 2012.

[PIN1] Paul Pignataro, Mergers, Acquisitions, Divestitures, and Other Restructurings: A Practical Guide to Investment Banking and Private Equity, ISBN: 978-1118908716, Wiley, 2015.

[PIN2] Paul Pignataro, Leveraged Buyouts: A Practical Guide to Investment Banking and Private Equity, ISBN: 978-1118674543, Wiley, 2013.

For some of the lessons a number of newspaper articles are also required. Links to all the publications are available in Canvas.