This case investigates the issues involved in a private equity (PE) firm's decision to invest in the debt of a distressed leveraged buyout. The analysis has been purposefully simplified to involve only two classes of outstanding debt, senior debt and junior debt, so that students do not need to have detailed knowledge of the bankruptcy process to complete the analysis. The main analytical task requires students to compute the expected internal rate of return for two debt-investment strategies. This case has been successfully taught in a second-year elective course covering entrepreneurial finance and PE, and in an undergraduate course on PE. The case is appropriate for use in classes on PE, debt restructuring, advanced corporate finance, or deal valuation.
This case investigates the issues involved in a private equity (PE) firm's decision to invest in the debt of a distressed leveraged buyout. The analysis has been purposefully simplified to involve only two classes of outstanding debt, senior debt and junior debt, so that students do not need to have detailed knowledge of the bankruptcy process to complete the analysis. The main analytical task requires students to compute the expected internal rate of return for two debt-investment strategies. This case has been successfully taught in a second-year elective course covering entrepreneurial finance and PE, and in an undergraduate course on PE. The case is appropriate for use in classes on PE, debt restructuring, advanced corporate finance, or deal valuation.
This case is taught at the University of Virginia McIntire School of Commerce in the fourth year course, ""Corporate Restructuring."" The case is suitable for advanced undergraduates or MBS students that have already completed a course in corporate finance or valuation. The material would fit well in a second Corporate Finance class, particularly if the instructor would like to devote some time to discussing financial distress and restructuring. It could also work well in a business reorganization class at a law school. Danfurn LLC is a U.S. manufacturer and retailer of high-end furniture that is in financial distress following a 2007 LBO and subsequent declines in profitability in the wake of the financial crisis of 2007-08. The nearly 50-year-old company has recently blown through cash flow covenants on its $100 million senior financing facility and is seeking a restructuring of its capital structure that will allow the company to survive. Although Danfurn's lenders are hopeful that a consensual decision can be reached on how to restructure the company without resorting to a bankruptcy filing, filing for bankruptcy or even liquidating the company are very real possibilities. This case is an exercise in negotiating a consensual restructuring of a financially distressed company when stakeholders have varied incentives, legal rights, potential remedies, and interests in how the company will be managed going forward. The case discussion works best if students are divided into groups representing the different stakeholder groups-the senior lender, mezzanine lender, board, private equity owner, and founder interests-and are asked to think about how best to maximize their positions while recognizing the costs of failing to reach a negotiated outcome.