Giddy | Urban Forum "The Strategic CFO"

The Strategic CFO
Financing growth and acquisitions.

In today's competitive market for capital, shareholders expect the Chief Financial Officer to be strategic, and to be advising on those approaches that will maximise the return on the use of the financial assets of the company. In this one-day workshop we explore the challenges facing CFOs who are willing to take a strategic view of their company and its finances.

The Challenge
Every modern corporate leader knows that finance can make or break a business. Hence it is essential to master the elements of best-practice methods of evaluating acquisitions and other investments, and the most effective way to finance them. For financial management to add value, the CFO must support and enhance the company's core competitive advantage. That is the challenge of strategic finance.

Participants will Learn

The “Strategic Finance” approach: integrating corporate goals into finance
How to implement the "five key disciplines of corporate finance"
When growth through acquisitions pays off - and when it does not
How the right financing can enhance the value of any acquisition
A new approach to valuation of a company
How to manage your company's gearing, credit quality, and liquidity
Ownership transition -- when and how to exit a business.

Seminar Outline

Time

Topics

Resources

Morning

Strategic Finance: Acquiring a Company

Strategy and finance: which comes first?
Five key principles of corporate finance
Acquisitions: creating corporate value -- or destroying it?
How a well-run company evaluates acquisitions
Examples: ISS and Berkshire
M&A synergies: revenues, costs or control?
Interactive: what are we doing right? What will we do differently?

Valuing the Business

What kind of business? Where is the value?
Assets, cash flows and options
Multiples versus cash flows
What are the synergies worth?
Cash flow and exit values: an alternative view

Presentations
Strategic Finance
Valuing the Business
Financing the Enterprise
Exit and Transition

Readings
Brave New World of M&A
Making Capital Structure Support Strategy
What Public Companies Can Learn from Private Equity

Afternoon

Value Creation through Financing Choices

Strategy and finance: capital funding choices for corporations
Matching corporate finance to funding choices
Don't bet on currencies or rates
Seeking the most effective capital structure
Recapitalization: what it means
The secrets of private equity and leveraged finance
Managing credit and liquidity in a "credit crunch"

Exit and Transition

The transition from fiefdom to public corporation
Ownership transition and exit: financial choices
Recapitalization: what it means
Giving up control: at what price?
Conclusion: employing finance to enhance corporate value

About the Instructor
Dr. Ian Giddy, born in South Africa, has taught finance at NYU, Columbia, Wharton, Chicago and in over 40 countries worldwide for the past three decades. He was Director of International Fixed Income Research at Drexel Burnham Lambert from 1986 to 1989. The author of more than fifty articles on international finance, he has served at the International Monetary Fund and the U.S. Treasury and has been a consultant with numerous corporations and financial institutions in North and South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. As a banker and consultant he has been involved in the growth of the structured finance market in the USA, Europe and Asia. He is the author or co-author of The International Money Market, The Handbook of International Finance, Cases in International Finance, Global Financial Markets, Asset Securitization in Asia and The Hudson River Watertrail Guide. He and his wife are the founders of Cloudbridge, a nature reserve in Costa Rica.