John Colley • Investment Banking Practitioner Series

Investment Banking and Finance: Private Equity Finance

Master PE Deal Execution from Entry to Exit | By a Former Private Equity Dealmaker with 25+ Years Experience

★★★★½ 4.59 (7,138 ratings)  |  29,649 students enrolled  |  9.5 hours of video  |  108 lectures
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The promise

“The complete walk through private equity — how funds work, how deals get done, how returns get measured, and how exits get executed.”

4.59★
Rating
29,649
Students
9.5
Hours
108
Lectures
May 2025
Updated

Why this course

Private equity is now the dominant force in mid and large-cap corporate finance. If you want a career in PE, want to raise from a PE firm, or want to understand how the smart money is investing, you need to understand how this industry actually operates. This is the course that takes you from outside the tent to fluent on the inside.

We cover how PE funds are structured, how they identify and source deals, how they value and price targets, how they structure transactions and run due diligence, the LBO modelling framework, deal value creation and the metrics that drive carry, exit scenarios from trade sales to IPOs to recapitalisations, why some startups fail, and how PE fund returns actually get measured.

Trusted by nearly 30,000 students with a 4.59 rating. The most popular and most complete PE foundation course on Udemy.

What you will master

Every outcome below is built into the course — not a marketing list, the actual curriculum.

Discover the core concepts of private equity — a core skill for any Wall Street analyst
Understand how private equity funds are structured and operate
Master the key terminology with a comprehensive glossary
Identify the right PE firm for your business or career
Understand how PE firms identify and source their deals
Structure a private equity finance transaction from term sheet to close
Master deal value creation and the key private equity metrics that drive carry
Walk the private equity deal process step by step
Run effective deal due diligence
Apply private equity deal valuation and pricing techniques
Build a comprehensive LBO model with the full framework
Evaluate risks and returns in PE deals
Understand exit scenarios: trade sales, M&A, IPOs, liquidations and recapitalisations
Measure private equity fund returns the way LPs actually measure them

Who this course is for

  • Any entrepreneur seeking to master the basics of entrepreneurship fundamentals
  • Any prospective Wall Street analyst expanding their finance knowledge
  • Any prospective investment banking analyst broadening their PE, LBO and MBO understanding
  • Anyone undertaking Wall Street Prep before applying for a job or business degree
  • Anyone considering applying for a job in a private equity firm

Requirements

  • No knowledge of investment banking or private equity required or assumed
  • No knowledge of banking and finance needed

What students are saying

Verified reviews from students who completed the course on Udemy.

★★★★★

“If you are interested in a career transition or career elevation into private equity, this course is essential. This course and the downloads have tremendous value and could sell for 10x the price tag.”

Jay Kramer
Verified Udemy student
★★★★★

“Fantastic course. I am new to the private equity industry and this course helped me understand the industry and the type of environment I will be working in.”

Peter Geisheker
Verified Udemy student
★★★★★

“So far the course is well structured and the instructor is really good at breaking down each topic and explaining it to the best possible.”

Bibaswat Biswal
Verified Udemy student
Your instructor

John Colley

Investment banker turned educator. 30+ years across Hoare Govett, M&A, private equity and corporate finance. Cambridge graduate, Bayes Business School MBA with Distinction.

Author of the Investment Banking Practitioner’s Handbook Series — the largest practitioner-authored IB content library available online. Trusted by 150,000+ students across 30+ Udemy courses.

Every course is built on real deal experience — not textbook theory. The voice is a senior banker explaining how things actually work, not a lecturer reading notes.

Ready to enrol?

Lifetime access. 30-day Udemy money-back guarantee. Mobile and desktop. Certificate of completion.

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Part of John Colley’s finance course library on Udemy. More courses at jbdcolley.com