FIN 301 – Investments and Asset Pricing
General Information
The course “Investments and Asset Pricing (FIN301)” will be held by Prof. Dr. Erik Theissen and Prof. Dr. Oliver Spalt. The course addresses the investment decision problem in corporations. The course addresses the following topics: present value calculus, capital budgeting, portfolio theory, Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) and market efficiency.
Faculty
Lecture
Exercise Sessions
- Hamed Davari
- Dr. Thomas Johann
- Dr. Jiri Tresl
- Student Assistants
Course Structure
Lecture
A weekly lecture that will be offered as a non-live video stream. The lecture is taught by Prof. Dr. Erik Theissen (first half of the semester) and Prof. Dr. Oliver Spalt (second half of the semester). The online stream allows students to watch those videos at their own pace. Once online, those videos will remain available until the end of the semester. Videos are accessible via the ILIAS group oft he course.
Depending on the Corona situation, we might return to in-class lectures after the easter break.
Online Quiz
Together with the lecture we will offer online quizzes for every week. Those quizzes allow students to check their understanding of the topics right after the lecture with some basic questions. Those quizzes are not graded. They can be taken multiple times and will be online until the end of the semester.
Exercise
The lecture is accompanied by an exercise. Every week, together with the lecture, we will upload a new exercise sheet. One week later, the solution to the exercise will be presented by a member of the FIN 301 team in a non-live video stream. Complementary to those videos, we offer 2 live online exercise sessions taught by teaching assistants. The dates of those exercise sessions are:
- Tuesdays, 10:15a.m. – 11:45a.m.
- Tuesdays, 1:45p.m. – 3:15p.m.
Additionally, you can choose from 10 in-class exercises. While you do not need to register for videos and live online exercises, a registration is mandatory for the in-class exercises.
With regard to content all three exercise formats are identical. You could thus visit only one of them or profit from a combination the three.
Q&A Session
Prof. Theissen and/
or Prof. Spalt offer a weekly Q&A Session lagging lectures by one week. This session will take place every Tuesday from 8:30 to 10:00 live and via Zoom. It shall offer an opportunity to ask all those questions that one would have asked in a live lecture. The gap of one week between lecture and Q&A should be used to watch the lecture video, to do the online quiz and to consolidate any remaining questions. Prof. Theissen and Prof. Spalt won’t convey any new content in these sessions but rather stand by to support you in your learning process. As we won’t prepare any content for these sessions, the success of those highly depends on students’ questions and input. Attendance of Q&A sessions is not mandatory. ILIAS Forum
Further Information
Language
Assessment
Students will receive one final grade for this course. The final exam will make up 100% of the final grade. The exact date and format of the exam will be announced during the semester. Due to the current situation both, a live online open-book exam and a classical in-class closed-book exam, are possible. The examination time is 90 minutes. The exam may cover all materials discussed in the first and second part of the lecture, as well as during exercise sessions.
Registration & Access
Materials
The course will be based on the textbook:
- “Principles of Corporate Finance” by Richard A. Brealey, Stewart C. Myers and Franklin Allen (McGraw Hill).
We will cover chapters 1 to 13 (13th international edition). The book also contains practice questions and quizzes for self-study and a link to a website with further materials.
Lecture slides and problem sets will be published online on the course's ILIAS page. The site provides the course materials and the course forum.
ILIAS
Teaching Evaluations