The authors began writing the First Edition of this textbook in early 1988. It took almost 10 years to complete this effort, because they did not want to write an ordinary textbook. Their goal was to write a book that would break new ground in both the understanding and explanation of finance and its practice. They wanted to write a book that would influence the way people think about, teach, and practice finance. A book that would elevate the level of discussion and analysis in the classroom, in the corporate boardroom, and in the conference rooms of Wall Street firms. They wanted a book that would sit on the shelves of financial executives as a useful reference manual, long after the executives had studied and received a degree. They were successful in their endeavor.The success of the first edition of Financial Markets and Corporate Strategy was very heartening. The market for this text has expanded every year, and it is well-known as the cutting edge textbook in corporate finance around the world. The book is used in a variety of courses, both for introductory courses and advanced electives. Some schools have even changed their curriculum to design it around this text.The authors have developed this Second Edition based on the comments of many reviewers and colleagues; producing what is a more reader-friendly book. The most consistent comment from users of the first edition was a request for a chapter on the key ingredients of valuation: accounting, cash flows, and basic discounting. This ultimately led to a new chapter in the text, Chapter 9, which is currently available in the "Sample Chapter" section of the book's website.In almost every chapter, examples are updated, vignettes changed, numbers modified, statements checked for currency and historical accuracy, and exercises and examples are either modified or added to. The goal of the Second Edition is to make the book ever more practical, pedagogically effective, and current.

Part I. Financial Markets and Financial Instruments1. Raising Capital2. Debt Financing3. Equity FinancingPart II. Valuing Financial Assets4. The Mathematics and Statistics of Portfolios5. Mean-Variance Analysis and the Capital Asset Pricing Model6. Factor Models and the Arbitrage Pricing Theory7. Pricing Derivatives8. OptionsPart III. Valuing Real Assets9. Discounting and Valuation10. Investing in Riskless Projects11. Investing in Risky Projects12. Allocating Capital and Corporate Strategy13. Corporate Taxes and the Impact of Financing On Real Asset ValuationPart IV. Capital Structure14. How Taxes Affect Financing Choices15. How Taxes Affect Dividends and Share Repurchases16. Bankruptcy Costs and Debt Holder-Equity Holder Conflicts17. Capital Structure and Corporate StrategyPart V. Incentives, Information, and Corporate Control18. How Managerial Incentives Affects Financial Decisions19. The Information Conveyed by Financial Decisions20. Mergers and AcquisitionsPart VI. Risk Management21. Risk Management and Corporate Strategy22. The Practice of Hedging23. Interest Rate Risk ManagementAppendix A. Interest Rate MathematicsAppendix B. Mathematical Tables