28/09/2017
Established within Sabancı University under the founding sponsorship of Akbank, the Center of Excellence in Finance (CEF) invited Professor Aswath Damodaran from the Stern School of Business at New York University. Known as the top name in company valuation worldwide, Professor Aswath Damodaran gave a seminar titled "Valuation: Art, science or magic?"
Established within Sabancı University under the founding sponsorship of Akbank to act as a bridge between the finance sector and manufacturing industry, the Center of Excellence in Finance (CEF) held a training on valuation. Professor Aswath Damodaran from the Stern School of Business at New York University gave a two-day seminar titled "Valuation: Art, science or magic?" at the Sabancı Center on September 15 and 16. Participants received a "Certificate of Attendance" from Sabancı University at the end of the seminar.
Known as the top name in company valuation worldwide, Professor Aswath Damodaran said that there were as many models for the valuation of companies and share certificates as there were valuation analysts, continuing "While the differences between these models are frequently brought to attention, common elements are largely ignored. I discussed the big picture, which needs to be considered when determining cash flows, growth rates and discount rates, and talked about calculation issues and the fundamentals of internal valuation. I used existing companies as lab experiments to bring visibility to calculation issues that may arise when performing a valuation." Damodaran also said the following about the seminar:
"After presenting the fundamentals of valuation, we turned to unanswered questions about valuation and discussed the valuation of elements such as control, synergy and cross shares. Then we turned to the dark side of valuation - the challenges faced when performing the valuation of companies in different sectors (companies with non-financial fixed assets or financial service companies) and companies at various stages of their life cycles (small and private, young and growing, mature and evolving, turbulent and shrinking). Finally,we talked about the correct and incorrect uses of multipliers in relative valuation."
The certificate program offered by Sabancı University CEF and Akbank aimed to provide the fundamentals of different valuation methods, the restrictions of each method, and practical application of the discussed methods. The overall objective of the seminar was to help participants gain the following skills:
- Use the discounted cash flow model to valuate any company in the market (small or large, privately-held or public)
- Use valuation multipliers and comparable companies to valuate a company
- Analyze and critique the use of multipliers in valuation
- Perform valuations of "problematic" companies such as new companies or those in financial difficulty
- Calculate the impact of restructuring on company value
Sabancı University Finans Chair and CEF Founding Chairperson Professor Özgür Demirtaş expressed their pleasure to host Prof. Aswath Damodaran at CEF, continuing, "We will invite leading academics to CEF in our second year for a series of important seminars. Following a Basics of Finance training that I will deliver to professionals, other Sabancı University faculty will teach courses in the Basics of Capital Budget, Mergers and Acquisitions, and Derivate Instruments. CEF also offers training courses to high school and university students who are interested in finance."
About Prof. Aswath Damodaran:
Aswath Damodaran holds the Kerschner Family Chair in Finance Education and is Professor of Finance at New York University Stern School of Business. Professor Damodaran currently teaches Corporate Finance and Equity Instruments & Markets. He earned an M.B.A. (1981) and then Ph.D. (1985), both in Finance, from the University of California, Los Angeles. His research interests include Information and Prices, Real Estate, and Valuation. He has published articles in the Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics and Review of Financial Studies.
