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In 2009, Blackstone, the New York-based alternative asset and financial services firm, committed to invest up to $750 million into Summit Materials, a new company in the aggregates sector (i.e., construction materials, such as crushed stone, sand, gravel, cement, asphalt, and ready-mix concrete). Summit intended to execute a roll-up strategy by consolidating smaller companies acquired at relatively low multiples into an integrated company that would trade at a higher exit multiple and have a greater total enterprise value (TEV) than the sum of the acquired parts. The case study is set in 2012, when, after deploying $483 million of capital toward acquisitions, Summit was not performing as well as forecast. Blackstone's investment committee gave Blackstone then-Managing Director Julia Kahr, along with Summit CEO Tom Hill and the deal team, one month to report back with a recommendation for the investment's future. In the case, Kahr is faced with the decision to recommend to: 1) continue the roll-up strategy, funding additional Summit acquisitions; 2) pause the roll-up strategy in order to invest in operations, upgrade the management team, improve due diligence and underwriting processes, and enhance finance and IT systems while waiting for the market to pick up; or 3) exit the investment.

Examines the motivations for franchising. Examines the academic literature in the area and draws implications for franchising patterns. Also provides data on franchising patterns.

That Corey Thomas, vice president at Boston-based Rapid7, Inc., was about to enter his investor's boardroom to negotiate a potential acquisition of Metasploit, LLC, was already an unlikely achievement of sorts. After all, Rapid7 was a venture-backed, corporate client-focused cybersecurity company, and Metasploit was a white-hat hacker community with a reputation that ranged from esoteric to "notorious." And awaiting Thomas for the deliberations wasn't a typical business partner, but rather HD Moore, Metasploit's founder, chief contributor, and in 2009 one of the most well-known hackers on the planet. The groundwork that had been laid to convince Moore to come to Boston for the discussions would all be for naught if Thomas couldn't come to terms with Moore... and if Thomas couldn't persuade his own executive team and board of directors that whatever package he ultimately agreed to with Moore was a reasonable one, even though an acquisition of Metasploit would come with no meaningful revenue and considerable execution, legal and reputational risks.

The first module of TEM focuses on business model analysis and lean testing. Your business model defines your company and sets its strategic direction, including customer value proposition, operations, scaling, the context in which the company operates, and so on. Designing and evaluating a business model is a complicated task, given all the considerations that must influence your decisions-external opportunities and threats, internal resources, your goals as a founder as well as your investors' desires, plus laws or obligation to your community or society at large. While not simple, a well-designed and properly tested business model serves as a strong guiding compass for the company and aligns priorities and critical actions.

Describes the issues facing a founder-CEO regarding building a board of directors, assembling an executive team, managing tension between co-founders, and outsourcing system development work.

This note serves as an overview of the Entrepreneurial Management Unit's required curriculum course, "The Entrepreneurial Manager (TEM)." General management has been a core educational organizing framework at the Harvard Business School since its inception. Today TEM provides a powerful context in which to learn about general management. TEM seeks to build the knowledge, skills, tools, frameworks, and attitudes required to succeed as a manager. These tools and frameworks are built upon the foundation of other RC courses at HBS, including TOM, LEAD, LCA, FRC, MKTG, STRAT, and FIN. With an aim to "educate leaders who make a difference in the world," TEM integrates the lessons of your RC year into an overall framework to help general managers at all types of organizations (e.g., small companies, large companies, non-profits, and public servants) become more effective at enhancing the value of those organizations.

This case contains four vignettes that provide an introduction to the issues covered in the course, Private Equity Finance.

The case focuses on a European private equity form - Ardian - and the process it uses to sell one of its portfolio companies, and the decisions around that sale. Key issues include the choice of an auction or acceptance of a pre-emptive bid, and the role of the portfolio company's management in the process. The case explores the kinds of influence company management can, and should, have in the sale process. The case also explores issues at the PE firm level, including the fact that the firm has recently been spun off out of its large parent financial services firm, and how the GP entity was valued during that spin-out.

This case explores the opportunity to purchase the condominium management business of a distressed real estate developer by Advantage Partners, a leading Japanese private equity firm. The case explores investment structuring, bidding strategy, and the ability of private equity firms to add value. The role of private equity in Japan is also explored and allows students to compare the Japanese merger and acquisition market to the U.S. and Europe.

This case presents the final decision and outcomes for the (A) case.

This note discusses the capital structure often found in LBO transactions. Although the specifics of each capital structure vary case by case, in any given year, there is a great deal of similarity in the capital structure of these buyouts. These similarities exist because debt structure is largely determined by the deal size and market conditions. The note summarizes historic trends and practices related to the debt structure in the buyout space.

This courseware is to be used with HgCapital and the Visma Transaction (A), HBS No. 214018.

This case concerns the proposed buyout of Acibadem, a leading hospital chain in Turkey. Abraaj, a MENA region private equity firm, proposes to make its first investment in Turkey. The case highlights the role of Turkish health care reform in driving the value. The case provides an opportunity to estimate the potential return on investment as well as evaluate the structuring of the transaction.

This case provides an update on the ultimate outcome of the transaction presented in The Abraaj Group and the Acibadem Healthcare Investment (A).

This case concerns the negotiations of a deal by HgCapital, a UK-based private equity firm, to buy Visma, ASA, a Norwegian software company. Visma has received an offer from Sage Group, a strategic acquirer. HgCapital must determine if it wants to bid and how to outbid a potential strategic acquirer. The case concerns bidding and negotiations strategies as well as deal structuring issues. In particular, the cross border nature of the investment, a UK firm investing in Norway, leads to a number of financing issues related to raising the debt for the LBO. The case provides an opportunity to role play both the PE fund perspective and the potential target.