Through diligent systematic preparation, you can control the deal process and avoid common pitfalls experienced during complex and lengthy negotiations.
Become confident at examining the financial and economic terms and conditions of buyouts, growth and early-stage investments.
Understand the wide range of components involved with seller earn-outs.
Gain insight into the impact that management incentive plans have on private equity deals.
Learn how to recognise risks and respond to pitfalls during the negotiating process, depending on stakeholders’ goals, objectives and motivations.
Build strategies that unearth valuable information during the negotiation process.
Ensure you create and capture value at the bargaining table.
Build trust with counterparties.
Gain an executive who will:
Understand the process of creating and claiming maximum value for your business.
Be empowered to structure value-creating deals that involve multiple complex issues across stakeholders.
Be able to communicate the implications of the deals to stakeholders.
Increase your business’ overall organisational agility in responding to private deal negotiations.
Mentor your business’ talent and develop teams’ negotiating competencies.
Future-proof your deal portfolio to gain long-term competitive advantage.
Right for you
This programme is designed to enhance the capabilities of mid-to-senior career level buyers, sellers, and advisors with exposure to private capital markets.
Attendees can include, but are not limited to:
Entrepreneurs and business founders
Private capital fund investors
Angel investors
Merger & acquisition specialists
Private capital fund advisors
Accelerator or crowdfunding platform managers
Professional management teams
Business operators responsible for negotiations
Consultants, accounts, and attorneys
Regulators
10
10+
years of experience required
Programme content
Combine financial insights with human motivations
Focus on preparation – understand how the technical aspects and psychological drivers of investors can lead to different outcomes – and keep you on the front foot throughout the negotiation process.
Explore how commercial terms and conditions impact ultimate deal success.
Gain a deeper understanding into how investors’ commercial and psychological drivers can affect negotiation outcomes.
Learn to deal with complex and emotionally charged negotiations and develop the mindset that will increase long-term deal success for all involved parties.
Unlock the power of systematic preparation and principled approaches when negotiating terms.
Understand how to manage emotions and guide internal and external conversations to keep deals on track.
Learn how to save deals jeopardised through less-than-optimal last-minute diligence findings.
Access the latest research from two world-leading academics – Florin Vasvari, an expert on accounting information, management controls and private market investing, and Niro Sivanathan, a leader in organisational behaviour and negotiations.
Learn first-hand from guest speakers from the private deal sphere and draw on their experiences of private equity negotiations.
Practice your negotiating skills through live interactive simulations and feel confident in your ability to face all types of negotiations.
Sharpen your skills through studying the latest case studies, taught by the experts who wrote them. You’ll cover multiple topics that teach how to navigate important deal aspects, such as structuring, debt financing, and integration and transition issues.
Work collaboratively, build connections and share valuable industry insights with your cohort, comprised of professionals from a diverse range of cultures and industries.
Day 1 Session 1: Introduction to private equity transaction processes & market overview
Discuss key players and the deal due diligence process, including evaluating target company financial health and performance, compliance, market dynamics and risks and opportunities.
Study a market overview, explaining typical private capital fund economics.
Session 2: Leveraging influence at the deal table
Draw together extant knowledge on decision-making and the psychology of influence.
Analyse the influence tactics and strategies, including cognitive structures and the presentation of information, have on negotiations.
Day 2 Session 3: Negotiation of venture deals
Discuss principled negotiation preparation and how to capture value at the bargaining table.
Learn tools and tips that help build success throughout the negotiation process – from early-stage valuations to exit considerations.
Session 4: Negotiation of buyout deals with sellers
Examine different approaches to negotiations that can improve efficiency and learn how to employ a scoring system to standardise processes.
Focus on important deal aspects, using case studies to explore specific issues and how to navigate them in different scenarios.
Day 3 Session 5: Negotiation of management incentive plans
Augment foundational components already covered on the course with further advanced value-creating, integrative strategies to help negotiators grow value, align interest and negotiate for the partnership ahead.
Gain in-depth insights into incentive structures, performance metrics, clawback provisions and other key parts of the negotiation process.
Session 6: Negotiation of governance agreements
Gain deeper insight into organisations’ governance arrangements, including the 100-day operational plan, value-creation strategies, board compositions, and regulatory requirements.
What is the application process?
You can apply to the programme of your choice online. Acceptance is not automatic and your application will be reviewed by our team of Programme Consultants to ensure the best fit between applicants and programmes. Spaces on our programmes can fill up quickly so we encourage you to apply early and ensure your application is as comprehensive as possible.
Will I have to do any preparation before attending the programme?
You'll receive communication from your Programme Manager around six weeks before starting the programme. The information we send will direct you to our online learning platform which will include the programme timetable, pre-programme reading and preparation work, and an introduction to your fellow participants.
Do I need to obtain a visa if I’m coming from overseas?
Visa requirements vary depending on your nationality and country of residence. We encourage you to use the ‘check if you need a visa’ tool or to consult the UK consulate or embassy in your home country.
Enhance and hone your private capital deal-making skills with this innovative multidisciplinary programme taught by world-leading experts and become an effective agent of influence.
Florin Vasvari
Professor of Accounting; Chair, Accounting Faculty; Academic Director, Institute of Entrepreneurship and Private Capital
Professor Florin Vasvari teaches courses on Distressed Investing as well as Private Equity and Venture Capital. He is an expert on the use of accounting information in credit markets and private capital funds. His research investigates the pricing and the role of accounting information in secondary debt markets, debt contracting issues, securitizations of syndicated loans, debt market intermediaries, bankruptcy valuation as well as private equity funds reporting practices and performance. His work on private equity includes work on ESG reporting, limited partners' private equity allocations, private equity valuation and performance measurement, private equity secondaries and aspects of risk management.
Experience
Florin has published over 20 academic articles in leading academic journals and many other articles in industry journals. He is frequently invited to present at top business schools around the world as well as academic and practitioner conferences. Professor Vasvari currently serves as an Editor at The Accounting Review, a top journal published by the American Accounting Association. He also serves on the School’s Management Board and Finance Committee.
He has advised many private institutions, including PE fund investors. He is currently a senior advisor to two private equity fund managers and serves on the boards of a large bank and two companies.
Niro Sivanathan’s research broadly centres around decision-making, power and status. He is an award-winning teacher of negotiations, decision-making and influence. His research draws on social psychological and evolutionary theories to examine how our judgments, decisions and behaviours are shaped by the psychological experience of status and power within social hierarchies. In addition, he also explores how our motivation to maintain the self-integrity influences decision-making.
Experience
His research has been presented at leading international conferences and published in the top international journals in the fields of Science, Management and Psychology. He has served on the editorial boards of top academic journals including the Academy of Management and Organization Science. This research has also been translated to practitioner audiences at the Harvard Business Review and a TED Talk. His research has also garnered international press coverage at CNN, Financial Times, Time Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Sunday Times and Forbes.
Niro is the recipient of numerous teaching awards, including being selected as one of the World's top 40 Best B-School Professors under 40 by Poets and Quants in 2016, and at LBS, the Excellence in Teaching Award, and voted the Best MBA teacher by the graduating class. He has provided advisory and executive education services for organizations such as Deutsche Bank, Kearney, YPO, Merck, Bain Capital, Salesforce and LVHM.
Spaces on our programmes can fill up quickly so we encourage you to apply early and to ensure that your application submission is as comprehensive as possible.
We’ll acknowledge receipt of your application by email within 48 hours, if it’s received during normal working hours (Mon-Fri – 09:00-18:00 GMT). We will review and respond to your application within two working days. We do this in order of receipt and acceptance is not automatic.
Yes. We can hold a provisional place for you for up to two weeks, but be aware that completed applications take priority and programmes often fill up several months in advance. You can reserve a place online, by phone or by email.
The programme is taught in English, so a good working knowledge of the language is essential. If English is not your first language, we may ask you for evidence of your proficiency.
Certificate in Finance
This programme can also be taken as part of the Certificate in Finance. Gain the knowledge and tools to build expertise in finance. Customise your learning by selecting four courses from our extensive, world-class portfolio.
The programme fee covers all required study materials, programme activities, as well as refreshments and most meals. It also includes access to a well-appointed gym with a swimming pool. It does not include accommodation.
Sign up to receive our latest news and business thinking direct to your inbox
London Business School takes your privacy seriously. We may process your personal information for carefully considered, specific purposes which enable us to enhance our services and benefit our customers. Please note that by subscribing now you may from time to time receive other emails from LBS about events or other activities that we think might interest you. View our Privacy Policy to learn more.
Thank you. You're almost ready to start enjoying Think. To verify your email and confirm your subscription please click on the link that we've sent to your email address.
