Florian Kiesel

Florian Kiesel is a tenured Associate Professor of Corporate Finance at the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano in Italy, part of the Faculty of Economics and Management. He holds a PhD in Economics and Finance from the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, and previously served as Assistant/Associate Professor at Grenoble Ecole de Management and Visiting Professor at Zeppelin University. His research focuses on credit ratings, ESG factors, M&A dynamics, and textual analysis in finance, with publications in journals like Journal of Corporate Finance and Journal of Banking & Finance. He is an Associate Editor of the Review of Managerial Science.

Key achievements include being ranked in the Top 50 Young Scholars in Business Administration (WirtschaftsWoche, 2022–2024) and Top 200 Scientists in Germany/Austria/Switzerland (2020). His work examines regulatory impacts on banking, information asymmetries in credit markets, and sustainability signaling in corporate decisions. Courses taught include Corporate Restructuring, Entrepreneurial Finance, and Principles of Finance for Computer Science.

Research themes span credit rating agency influence, CDS markets, ESG integration, and M&A strategies, with recent studies on AI-driven innovation in startups and post-pandemic green finance dynamics. His articles dissect topics such as divestiture market reactions, SPAC performance, and geopolitical risk effects on corporate valuations.

• Awards: WirtschaftsWoche rankings (2020, 2022, 2024)
• Editorial Role: Review of Managerial Science
• Key Contributions: Over 50 peer-reviewed articles, emphasizing empirical linkages between corporate actions and financial markets.