Advanced Financial Negotiation Masterclass
A focused programme on the practical mechanics of financial negotiation — structured for those who want to understand how terms, leverage, and timing actually interact in real conversations.
Programme Modules
- Module 1: Deal structure and how financial terms interact — equity, debt, and hybrid instruments
- Module 2: Term sheet negotiation — valuation, control rights, and dilution mechanics
- Module 3: Earn-outs and deferred consideration — structuring and negotiating performance conditions
- Module 4: Multi-party negotiations — managing competing interests and coalition dynamics
- Module 5: Working with advisers — how to direct legal and financial teams effectively in a negotiation
- Module 6: Full deal simulation — live exercise with structured debrief and written feedback report
Format: Six weekly sessions of three hours each, plus preparatory reading and one written assignment per module.
Participants receive a written feedback report on their negotiation approach at the end of the programme.
About this programme
This is not an introductory course.
The masterclass is designed for professionals who already negotiate regularly and want to sharpen their approach on complex, high-value deals. Topics include term sheet negotiation for equity investment, earn-out structures in acquisitions, multi-party commercial agreements, and situations where legal and financial advisers are involved on both sides. We examine real deal structures — anonymised but drawn from actual transactions — and work through what was negotiated, what was left on the table, and why.
Participants should have at least five years of relevant professional experience.
The programme runs over six weeks with a cohort limited to ten participants. This keeps sessions genuinely interactive. Instructors Cormac Whelan and Petra Vanhanen bring backgrounds in corporate finance and M&A advisory respectively, and sessions often include guest input from solicitors and accountants who work on complex deals. The final session involves a full deal simulation with written and verbal debrief.
Participants have described the deal simulation as the most useful single exercise they have done in a professional development context — not because it is easy, but because it is realistic.