Whether you want to follow a career in private equity or just want to know how to analyze investment opportunities, define successful strategies and manage companies, this course will provide you with the basic skills to be a successful value-oriented private equity investor, while understanding the particular challenges of investing in Emerging Markets.

Through a combination of lectures, case discussions, real-life examples, and a Private Equity Game Simulation this course focuses primarily on the two key components of a successful private equity business: Analyzing & Selecting Investment Opportunities and Managing Portfolio Companies, with a special focus on crafting winning marketing strategies.

The skills & toolkit you’ll learn in this course, go beyond Private Equity. Analyzing & valuating businesses, implementing operational improvements and realizing value for shareholders are key activities for any organization, especially those operating in Emerging Markets. While the course will cover the basics of the Private Equity Industry (its players, business models, sourcing deals, deal execution, structuring and terms, exits, etc.), the focus will be on value creation through strategic marketing analysis of opportunities and management of portfolio companies.

Specifically, we will review key models and frameworks used by top world-class PE practitioners and management consultants to evaluate deals, to better understand industries, drivers of value, players and the likelihood of success of different business models. Additionally, we will focus on how to manage portfolio companies to achieve superior returns and how to diagnose, solve, recommend and implement top strategic corporate decisions.

All of these skills will be developed and discussed through the lens of Emerging Markets, paying particular attention to the added complexity that these markets bring to PE investment, mainly regarding macro risks, information asymmetry, governance and other issues. The course´s ultimate objective is to develop a disciplined, structured and analytical approach to consistently help you evaluate deals and manage investment opportunities in Emerging Markets.

Marco Viola

Adjunct Professor of Business

Marco Viola is a Managing Partner and founder of Nexus Partners. Nexus Partners is a US investor, general partner and manager of a portfolio of companies with over 5000 employees and company value in excess of $500MM. Current portfolio companies include investments in retailing, health care services, education, telecommunications, water treatment, food service, media and industrial laundry. Prior to Nexus, Marco was Managing Director of...

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