The University of Texas at Dallas

School of Management

Finance 6366–501 International Financial Management

Spring 2005

Professor David J. Springate

________________________________________________________________

Course Description

My aim is to work with you on both concepts that are useful in dealing with
international currency issues when operating across national boundaries and on
recent developments in the world’s capital markets. The context of the course
will be financial issues of importance to corporations even as the instructional
focus remains individual development. The course aims to develop professional
effectiveness in understanding selected developments and in being able to work
with concepts useful in valuation, investment and financing.

As you will see below, the course is broken into four major areas of concern.
They are foreign exchange exposure management, foreign investment, corporate
funding for established and emerging companies, and international mergers and
acquisitions. These topics should be viewed as being selectively chosen and do
not comprise complete coverage of the international finance field. Some areas
that could easily be included, for example, cash management, use of particular
capital markets, or exchange rate forecasting, have been excluded on the basis
of time availability.

This course is designed for practicing business people. To this end, there will be
substantial class discussion and case analysis of topical issues. Much of the
learning will come from classmates and from individual study and preparation for
our discussions.

WebCT will be used to a limited extent in a support role in this course.

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Course Structure

The course is comprised of 16 classes and associated preparation/analysis

time. It will use the following elements:

• Consideration of published cases. We will use nine cases in class to

identify issues, and respond to each other's comments. Questions to
initiate thought and preparation for class will be posted in the WebCT
"Discussion" area and be distributed weekly in class. Class performance,
in terms of frequency of contribution and depth of analysis, will be
assessed weekly (Total 1/3 of grade).
• Group presentations exploring foreign exchange exposure and capital
market issues. The two presentations will each include consideration by
group members of a selected case and relevant journal articles (Total 1/3
of grade).
• The writing of individual papers. Two case analyses and a research
project will be assigned. To encourage substantive analysis some limited
class time will be devoted to this activity (Total 1/3 of grade). .
• An on-going grading system. Once I have identified you, feedback should
be available weekly.
• The ability to communicate with class-mates and team members through
WebCT, e-mail or telephone bridge. This will both aid class preparation
and enable the completion of group assignments.
• Office visits, WebCT, e-mail and telephone contact with me.
• The textbook which will serve as a learning resources and reference.
Please note that the “Associated Readings” on p.6 are only loosely tied to
topics

More Details on WebCT Use

Intended use in course:

• To post the course syllabus

• To post the course calendar
• To post each week’s discussion questions
• To post the three written assignments
• To post the two group presentation topics
• To support, in audio/visual form, any required handouts or audio lectures
• To support the communication within groups working together for class
preparation or presentations.
• To support electronic communication between class members and
instructor You will have to arrange for WebCT access as necessary. You’ll
need to have a UTD NetID and password (your UTD Unix/Email ID and
password) to access the course. If you need help, please call Karthik.

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More Details on “MeetingPlace” Conference System Use

UTD maintains a telephone conferencing system from Latitude Communications.

Class members can access a meeting by dialing a “972” area code number using
any touch tone phone and entering a meeting code. Conferencing is available for
smaller groups of students for group discussions or group assignment
preparations. If a group wants to reserve a time slot during the workweek of
Monday through Friday, please send an email one week in advance to
kxa024000@utdallas.edu with course name, student names and email
addresses, choice of date, and start and end times. Once a reservation has been
made, you will receive a confirmation and participation instructions.

A class teleconference is usually recorded and can be reviewed over the phone.
To access the recording of the entire meeting, students can dial the same phone
number and select option 3 "review a meeting" and then follow the prompts to
enter the correct meeting month, date and meeting ID.

Instructor Information:

Dr. David Springate

972-883-2647
SM 1.708
spring8@utdallas.edu
http://www.utdallas.edu/~spring8

Assistant: Ms. Cindi Gravelle

972-883-5941
gravelle@utdallas.edu
SM 1.519

Technical: Mr. Karthik Alagu

972-883-4417
kxa024000@utdallas.edu

Course Materials

Required Cases and Reference Book:

You are responsible for procuring a copy of each case. There is a list below.
Cases will normally be available through the campus and off-campus book
stores.

The book chosen for reading and reference is Global Corporate Finance, 6th
Edition by Suk Kim, Seung Kim, and Kenneth Kim.

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Harvard Business School Cases:

Tiffany and Company 1993 9-295-047

MSDI – Alcala de Henares, Spain 9-289-029
Jaguar, PLC, 1984 9-290-005
Walt Disney Company’s Yen Financing 9-287-058
Gaz de France 9-288-030
Kendle International, Inc -- 1997 9-200-033
Genset, Initial Public Offering (A) 9-297-096
N.V. Philips Electronics – Currency Hedging Policies 9-295-055
Elders IXL Limited -- 1986 9-288-042
Aspen Technology Inc.: Currency Hedging Review 9-296-027

Ivey Case:
Clearnet Communications 9B00N004

Darden Case:
MediMedia International, Ltd. UVAF1032

Course Hardware

The following will be most useful at various times.

• A Pentium processor or equivalent Mac system; Windows 98/me/NT/2000

or Mac OS 8.6 and 9.1.
• Internet access with modem or with other faster connections.
• 32 MB system Ram; 200 MB free disk space or sufficient storage
• Sound card, microphone (for audio recordings for class presentations)
• CD-ROM capabilities

Student Assessment and Evaluation

Grading Basis:

Class Discussion and Participation 33+%

Written Case Assignments (3) 33+%
Class Team Presentations (2) 33+%
100%

Informal Reports:

You can check your class participation and other grades by accessing the “My
Grade” icon on WebCT after the weekly grade is released. This feature will not
be immediately available.

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Class Identification:

Each student will be given a name card for use in class. Please use it to help me
learn your name.

Class Participation:

Class discussion and participation consists of responding in class to the on-going

discussion about the assigned cases. Starting questions will be posted in the
Discussion areas for each case. Students are expected to participate in the
discussion for each case.

Group Presentations:

There will be two class team presentations. The prepared presentations should
be in PowerPoint format and include audio to explain and expand each slide in
the presentation. Financial information exhibits can be attached in Excel or Word
or .rtf format. Contact Karthik for more help on this topic.

Group presentation materials should be sent to the instructor in advance. The

planned presentations include:

Group Presentation #1: Jaguar plc, 1984

Group Presentation #2: Clearnet Communications or

MediMedia International

Individual Assignments:

Expected to be:

Jaguar, plc, 1984

N.V. Philips Electronics – Currency Hedging Policies
International Mergers and Acquisitions

Final Examination

Included in final assignment.

Scholastic Honesty – Cheating

I am required to remind you that plagiarism is a serious offense at this University.

Do not claim written work as your own if it is not so. The university has policies
and discipline procedures regarding scholastic dishonesty. Detailed information
is available at http://www.utdallas.edu/student/slife/dishonesty.htm

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Course Date Section of Topic Case Assoc.
Week Course Readings
1 1/12 Introduction Information, Kim 1,2,3,4
Formation of
groups
2 1/19 Foreign How might XR MSDI-Alcala de Henares Kim 5
Exchange be formed? (1987, Spain)
Exposure What are
Management Parities?
Does it Matter?
3 1/26 What is FX Tiffany & Co. Kim 6
Exposure? (1993, Japan)
First written assignment given
4&5 2/2 FX Exposure Effect of FX Jaguar, plc, (1984, U.K.) Kim 9
& Management, rates on value,
2/9 Foreign International Group Presentation #1 Jaguar
Investment investment
6 2/16 Foreign Foreign Walt Disney Company’s Yen Kim 7
Exchange Currency Swaps Financing (1985, Japan)
Exposure Second written assignment given
Management
7&8 2/23 Operational and N.V. Philips Electronics – Currency Kim 9,14
& Financial Hedging Policies (1990,
3/2 Exposure Netherlands)
9 3/9 Hedging, Swaps Gaz de France (1986) Kim 8

10 3/16 Hedging Policies Aspen Technology Inc. Currency Kim 12

Hedging Review (1995, USA)
11 3/23 Corporate Global Markets Elders IXL (1986, Australia) Kim 10
Funding, and Issues
Foreign
12 3/30 Investment Funding Choices Clearnet Communications (1997, Kim 11,13
Canada) or MediMedia
International, Ltd. (1991, Germany)
Group Presentation #2 Choice
13 4/6 Financing for IPO and Kendle International, Inc. (1997, Kim
Emerging International Netherlands, Germany) 15,16,17,
Companies Acquisitions 18
14 4/13 Venture Capital Genset, Initial Public Offering (A) Kim 19
in Europe (1996, France)
Third written assignment given
15 & 16 4/21 International Recent Deals International Mergers and Kim
& Mergers and Acquisitions (2004) 20,21,22
4/27 Acquisitions

The group presentations are scheduled for February 9 and March 30.
First paper will be assigned January 26, due February 2.
Second paper will be assigned February 16, due March 2.
Final paper will be assigned April 13, due April 27.