Book excerpt: Corporate Financial Strategy is a practical guide to understanding the elements of financial strategy, and how directors and advisors can add value by tailoring financial strategy to complement corporate strategy. The book sets out appropriate financial strategies over the key milestones in a company's life. It discusses the practicalities behind transactions such as: * Raising venture capital * Flotation on a stock exchange * Making acquisitions * Management buyouts * Financial restructuring In explaining financing structures, the book sets out the basic building blocks of any financial instrument to enable the reader to appreciate innovations in the field. It also illustrates how and why different types of security might be used. The second edition of this very popular textbook brings to bear the considerable commercial and academic experience of its co-authors. Throughout, the book offers a range of up-to-date case studies, abundant diagrams and figures, and frequent 'Working Insight' sections to provide practical illumination of the theory. This book will enable you to understand the potential value added by the best financial strategy, while fully demonstrating the working role of financial strategy within an overall corporate strategy. An excellent practical guide for senior financial managers, strategic-decision makers and qualified accountants, the text is also invaluable as a clear-sighted and thorough companion for students and senior executives on finance courses (including MBA, MSc and DMS).