The partners of Saito Solar, a privately owned photovoltaic (PV) solar panel manufacturer in Japan, received an unsolicited proposal from an investment bank about their interests in selling the firm. The firm had experienced steady sales decline in recent years, due mainly to intense competition from low-cost solar panel manufacturers from China. However, in 2012, the solar industry in Japan received new signs of life. The threat of radiation from the nuclear plant explosions due to a deadly earthquake in 2011 had prompted Japan to look for alternative energy. On July 1, 2012, the Japanese government implemented a new feed-in-tariff of 42Â¥/kWh (about US$0.53/kWh) for solar energy. This tariff was almost twice as large of that in Germany and three times of that in China. This incentive was predicted to produce solar energy that would rank Japan as one of the largest in the world in solar capacity. The partners of Saito Solar were excited about the investment bank's solicitation and wanted to find out how much the firm was worth. The cash flow projections incorporating the positive outlook of the Japanese solar industry were provided. The partners discussed valuation using discounted cash flow (DCF) approach, so it is a perfect case to introduce beginner finance students the proper and common way to value a firm using DCF.

The case deals with U.S. Financial Service Company (USFSC) and its CEO, John P. Lewis, and their consideration whether or not the company should open operations in India. USFSC would either partner with a local financial service company or invest in a new start-up bank branch or representative office in India. Although Lewis is conducting this analysis in 2012, the case covers the time period from 2005 to 2012 to provide background and to review the economic developments and political policies undertaken by the Indian government to recover from the global financial crisis of 2007-2009. The case requires a performance analysis of the financial ability of USFSC to undertake expansion into India and/or the case also requires an assessment of the economic and political risks of investing in India and how to mitigate those risks

This case examines in detail the causes and role played by structured finance in the past four global financial crises, particularly the 2007-2010 crises. It also describes and analyzes how securitization and structured products work and the value they add to finance, and how structured products are constructed, their value and how they are used in finance. Finally, the case explores the impact of the proposed changes to banking regulations in Basel II and III to reduce the risk associated with securitization and its use.