Corporate Finance (Equity Finance)
Corporate Finance (Equity) is designed for students undertaking
training contracts in the large "city" firms or the larger
provincial firms. If your prospective firm advises public limited
companies whose shares are traded on the UK Equities market of the
London Stock Exchange (and/or their directors) then this elective
will be of relevance to you. The elective concentrates on the rules
and regulations surrounding the raising of finance through the
issue of ordinary shares (or equities) by public limited companies
as opposed to the raising of finance through bank borrowings and
lending facilities (for which, see the Banking and Capital Markets
elective).
Any student about to undertake a training contract with a large
city firm or a provincial firm carrying out this kind of work needs
to be familiar with the corporate finance regulatory framework. In
addition, it helps to have an understanding of the terminology
employed by city professionals. The corporate finance department is
often the largest department in a city firm and the central focus
of its activities, with other departments feeding in expert advice
on specific aspects of a finance raising deal. The law is very
technical and the elective aims to introduce the student to its
many complexities in a learning environment.
The elective covers:
- The major differences between private and public companies
- Group corporate structures
- The public company AGM
- The various methods of raising finance through the issue of
shares (e.g. Rights Issues, Open offers, Placings)
- The regulation of public share issues (e.g. the requirements
for a Prospectus)
- The funding of private company acquisitions by public share
issues and the regulation of these transactions (i.e. "Class
transactions")
- Public Company takeovers
- The duties and obligations of public company directors,
including insider dealing and market abuse regulations
The elective is practical in its approach, using recent real
transactions as case studies to emphasise the role of the lawyer
and the trainee in the deal.
The content of the full-time and part-time course is identical,
but they are structured differently.