The case focuses on bribery and corruption in wholesale international capital markets with an emphasis on infrastructure finance - notably the theft of $4.5 billion in proceeds from bond issues by the 1 Malasia Development Berhad (IMDB) totalling $6.5 billion. The scandal ensnared the Malaysian Prime Minister, an Abu Dhabi Sovereign Wealth Fund, major institutional investors and the Goldman Sachs Group in one of the largest financial frauds in recent history. The scope of the case spans a host of issues from public finance to due diligence, corporate culture, executive conduct and reputational risk.

Plans for a $3.5 billion crude oil pipeline in 2014-17 from the Bakken formation of North Sakota and Canada to a transfer point near Chicago, linked to an existing pipeline to the major refining and export faculities on the US Gulf Coast, run into trouble when the developer, Energy Transfer Partners, encounters a "roadblock" on a section of federal land that is within a reservation of the Flat Rock Sioux tribe of Native Americans. The case charts how the conflict escalated from the local to the global level.

After the collapse of world oil prices during the late 1990s, Cheniere began shifting its business focus away from upstream exploration and toward LNG regasification to take advantage of a projected decline in domestic natural gas production and the natural gas supply deficit that was expected in the US over the next decade. Thanks to fracking, precisely the reverse happened and Cheniere shifted from importing gas to gas export with the Sabine Pass LNG facility that came on line in 2016.

The case involves tapping global capital markets for an important revenue-driven project in a developing country. It addresses key issues in project and infrastructure finance in the context of a major Peruvian toll road project.

Privatization of state-owned enterprises represents a significant realm of business for investment banks around the world. It also involves balancing a number of sometimes conflicting objectives among buyers and sellers and a host of risks for both sides as well as the financial firm itself. This case focuses on a large partial privatization in the Middle East that illustrates all of these issues and came to define the requirements for investment banks to perform successfully in future privatizations.

This case traces the history of Goldman Sachs from its origins as it grows from a partnership to one of the most valuable franchises in the global securities industry and ultimately a listed corporation, and its transformation into a bank holding company under the regulatory oversight of the Federal Reserve. Even by the standards of the financial services sector - significantly restructured in recent decades - Goldman Sachs has undergone transformative configurations while straining to hold on to the attributes that made it an industry leader. There are successes and failures, and the case focuses on the future direction of the firm in a market and regulatory environment very different from the past.

This case deals with a joint venture in microinsurance in India between a leading global insurer, Allianz SE, and an Indian conglomerate, the Bajaj Group - part of a broader commercial centure in the Indian life and nonlife insurance sector. The Bajaj-Allianz joint venture is, in turn, engaged in joint ventures in the microinsurance sector with NGOs (notably CARE) and a leading microfinance institution, SKS, both designed to recuce the cost of microinsurance distribution and expand the size of the insurance pool. The case discusses the microinsurance industry and its role in improving the lives of the poor, problems of microinsurance underwriting and distribution, and the role of microinsurance in the strategies of the various parties involved.

This case deals with efforts by HSBC, one of the two largest banks in the world by market capitalization, to develop a wholesale banking franchise that can effectively challenge those of major universal bank competitors such as Citigroup, as well as dominant "monoline" firms such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. It highlights the key dimensions of wholesale financial intermediation: loan syndication and project finance, loan securitization and credit default swaps, equity capital markets, debt capital markets, secondary market trading and other investment banking services for clients, as well as principal trading and positioning. Like most players in this market, HSBC had some notable successes and failures, but on the whole did not succeed in breaking into the top ranks of global investment banks despite clearly having the resources to do so. By understanding what it takes to succeed, students should learn a great deal about the competitive dynamics of this industry.

This case describes the hostile takeover bid by Mittal steel for Arcelor steel in what turned out to be one of the most acrimonious takeovers in European history. The battle began in January 2006 and lasted six months. From the outset, Arcelor's management resisted Mittal's deal using every possible defense involving politicians, bankers and public relations advisors, among others. There was even a proposed merger with a Russian company in a desperate effort to avoid the hostile takeover bid. Finally, on 25 June 2006, after the fierce battle that included allegations of racism and much animosity, Arcelor heeded its shareholders' wishes and accepted the bid. The initial offer was 18.6 billion and the final price paid by Mittal was 26.9 billion. During the six months, Mittal's share price had increased by almost 25%, with Arcelor's more than doubling.

This case deals with the problems facing MMC in three of its key business areas, which surfaced in quick succession in 2003 and 2004. Its focus is primarily on the reputation risks facing the firm, and how shareholder value can be destroyed when such risks materialize. In two of the three cases, the market capitalization losses dwarf the accounting losses attribuable to fines, penalties, restitution, restructuring, etc., associated with the events.

This case looks at the strategy formulation and implementation in global private banking, from the perspective of the pre-eminent firm in this industry.