For more than 10 years, Edesiri Onatejiroghene Ibru has been working in the corporate finance and petroleum industries. The former head of corporate services at Destiny Dredgers International, Ltd., Edesiri Onatejiroghene Ibru serves as a corporate finance analyst for Midwestern Oil and Gas Company, Ltd. in Nigeria. For more than 10 years, Edesiri Onatejiroghene Ibru has been working in the corporate finance and petroleum industries. The former head of corporate services at Destiny Dredgers International, Ltd., Edesiri Onatejiroghene Ibru serves as a corporate finance analyst for Midwestern Oil and Gas Company, Ltd. in Nigeria.

1. The Three Guiding Principles of
Corporate Finance
Edesiri Onatejiroghene Ibru

2. Introduction
• For more than 10 years, Edesiri Onatejiroghene Ibru has been working in
the corporate finance and petroleum industries. The former head of
corporate services at Destiny Dredgers International, Ltd., Edesiri
Onatejiroghene Ibru serves as a corporate finance analyst for Midwestern
Oil and Gas Company, Ltd. in Nigeria.
The most basic component of running a business, corporate finance
directs all business decisions that involve money. To ensure corporate
finance plays its role properly, the discipline relies on three principles to
guide everything it does. These principles are briefly described as follows:
1. Investment – According to this principle, corporate finance
professionals must invest in projects and assets that provide them with a
return above the minimum hurdle rate. This hurdle rate is decided based
on the financing mix used in a project and the risk of said project.

3. Corporate Finance
• 2. Financing – Companies need a good mix of equity, debt,
and other financial instruments to operate properly and the
financing principle ensures corporate finance professionals
find a good mix. Ideally, any mix chosen should maximize
investment value and match the nature of the specific
assets that are being financed.
3. Dividend – Businesses must return money to the owners
in the event that the baseline hurdle is not exceeded by the
company’s investments. Money can be returned in one of
two ways –paying off dividends or buying back stock. The
choice between these two options depend on the
preference of shareholders.