Financial Mindmap: videos explaining corporate finance

In 2024, the paperback version of “Corporate Finance for Lawyers” was published. In this book, the authors explore the intricate relation between law and corporate finance to allow lawyers to gain a deeper understanding of the field they are working in.

First of all, the book provides an introduction into the basic building blocks of the world of corporate finance and the dominant company valuation methods of EBITDA-multiples and Discounted Cash flow methods. The book further explains standard finance patterns from both a finance and a legal perspective, most notably the increased use of non-interest bearing debt as cheap way of finance, financing by means of secured credit, financing by means of shareholder loans and financing by means of guarantees. The book also discusses the corporate finance dynamics of reorganization procedures and disputes over the allocation of value as part thereof. The authors focus on what goes on in the actual world of corporate finance, discussing the power balance between shareholders, secured lenders and creditors in a world where the assumptions of perfectly functioning markets with fully adjusting creditors do not apply.

The authors use the Financial Mindmap throughout the book. This tool depicts finance by using colour and visualisations in a clear and intuitive manner. By using the Financial Mindmap, readers can quickly gain an intuitive understanding of finance.

The Financial Mindmap is developed as an interactive tool for teaching purposes. In order to bring the Financial Mindmap further to live, the authors have developed video’s explaining corporate finance. In addition to an Introduction to Corporate Finance for Lawyers, the authors discuss Solvency and insolvency as balance sheet concepts (video 1), The use of non-interest bearing debt as a cheap source of finance (video 2), Non-interest bearing debt and company valuation (video 3), and Secured credit for investing and distributions to shareholders (video 4).