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The treasurer for Dominion Resources Inc. (Dominion), a major U.S. diversified producer and distributor of energy, was heading to meet with the company's investment bankers to discuss the impact of a large project upon Dominion's financing strategy for the next five years. The Cove Point liquefied natural gas (LNG) project would require $3.6 billion to build and represented one of the largest single capital investments in the company's 100-plus year history.

A middle-aged investor, living in India, is looking for a pension plan as he wants to retire within 10 to 12 years and start his own consultancy. His financial advisor suggests four investment plans, each a mix of equities and bonds with different risk elements. An investment that has more equity also has more risk but higher returns. Inflation, equity markets, bond trends, interest rates, portfolio returns and likely annuities all have to be analyzed. Annual contributions and the accumulation of a corpus fund at the time of maturity also have to be considered. The investor wants to ensure that his pension plan will generate the annuities required to support his retirement but is still unsure which plan to choose.

Helps students to understand how the characteristics of a business are reflected in the firm's financial statements. In this exercise, students are given balance sheet data in percentage form (common-size balance sheets) and other selected financial ratios for a set of 12 unidentified firms from 12 different industries (all 12 companies are listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, ASX). Students must use the balance sheet data and the financial ratios along with their basic knowledge of the operating characteristics of these various industries to match each firm to the correct industry.

This note teaches the critical elements to understand the fundamentals of hotel investing, ownership and management. It outlines the basics of hotel segmentation, operations, ownership, management and valuation. The changing impact of technology is also addressed.

Jeju Air is a market leader in the South Korean low-cost carrier industry, operating more than 20 domestic and international air routes in Asian countries. In the midst of rising economic activity and the opening of more air routes in North Asia, Jeju Air is planning an initial public offering to seek capital to grow its China business.<br><br>Meanwhile, Singapore Airlines is in discussions to purchase a 20 per cent equity investment in Jeju Air. Is this investment a wise decision for Singapore Airlines? Additionally, what is Singapore Airlines’ future outlook in terms of its existing underperforming subsidiaries?

Jeju Air is a market leader in the South Korean low-cost carrier industry, operating more than 20 domestic and international air routes in Asian countries. In the midst of rising economic activity and the opening of more air routes in North Asia, Jeju Air is planning an initial public offering to seek capital to grow its China business. Meanwhile, Singapore Airlines is in discussions to purchase a 20 per cent equity investment in Jeju Air. Is this investment a wise decision for Singapore Airlines? Additionally, what is Singapore Airlines' future outlook in terms of its existing underperforming subsidiaries?

In May 2013, senior managers of GSO Capital Partners, an $80 billion credit-oriented investment firm owned by The Blackstone Group, are considering what to do next with their investment in the senior secured debt of Eastman Kodak Company. Once a great company and an icon of American business, Kodak had fallen on desperately hard economic times as its traditional business of manufacturing cameras and photographic film had all but disappeared with the rise of digital photography, causing its annual revenues to plummet from $13 billion to $6 billion, and its stock price to fall by 95%, between 2003 and 2011. Having taken various positions in Kodak's debt during the previous four years, GSO is now faced with a major decision. Under the company's recently proposed plan of reorganization, secured creditors were to be given 85% of the company's common stock, but unsecured creditors objected to the plan. Now, six months later, GSO has brought an amended plan to the table, under which it would commit to backstop a $406 million equity rights offering that would be made directly to all the unsecured creditors. This offer might bring the objecting creditors on board, but could also require an additional large capital commitment by GSO, which was already heavily invested in a highly troubled business that many viewed as a "melting ice cube."

It is April 2014, and the small investment management firm Elke Schumpeter founded twelve years earlier in Frankfurt, Germany, is performing well. The fund, Schumpeter Finanzberatung GmbH (SF), has pursued a low-cost market timing (tactical asset allocation) strategy that targets a mix of 60% in the equity market index and 40% in German treasury bills (T-bills) but that also strategically changes the mix in an attempt to beat the passive benchmark. The fund has grown to just over €400 million and since 2006 has outperformed the passive benchmark by 98 basis points. At the suggestion of some investors, Schumpeter is now considering expanding her firm's investment thesis to include investments in individual stocks. She has investigated two firms: ThyssenKrupp AG and Deoleo SA. Before making the decision to invest in individual stocks, Schumpeter needs to decide how to measure the risk of those investments. Students are asked to measure the risk of both individual investments (stocks) as well as the risk of SF's overall portfolio. The case provides a way to explain the intuition behind the capital asset pricing model and to describe the distinction between idiosyncratic (diversifiable) risk and systematic (non-diversifiable) risk.

Spreadsheet for KEL913.

Following a turbulent 2014 for Standard Chartered Bank, the bank’s largest shareholder, Temasek Holdings, began showing indications that it was seriously considering offloading at least a portion of its massive shareholdings in Standard Chartered Bank. This case seeks to provide a fair valuation of Standard Chartered Bank’s intrinsic value, as well as rationalize the most appropriate way for Standard Chartered Bank to raise funds to satisfy the higher capital requirements under Basel III regulatory rules. Assuming that Standard Chartered Bank decided to hold on to its significant bank investments and to raise funds to satisfy the higher capital requirements, what could be some possible financing alternatives? Would it help to attract more bank deposits, raise debt, or go for a seasoned offering? What would be the impact of these financing alternatives? Finally, what would be a suitable recommendation on how to raise the funds if one took the valuation results into consideration?

In March 2012, the CEO of Fairbridge Capital considered the pros and cons of the potential acquisition of Thomas Cook India. He believed that Thomas Cook India’s two business segments (travel/related services and financial services) had different potential in terms of growth and cash flow generation. Analysts predicted tremendous growth potential in the travel business (although it would require additional investment), while the foreign exchange segment had limited growth potential but generated significant cash flow. Thomas Cook India had changed ownership several times in a short time period, and the stock price had fallen substantially. Would acquiring Thomas Cook India fit the value-investing philosophy rigorously followed by Fairbridge Capital and its parent company, Fairfax Financial? If so, how much should Fairbridge bid? Was Thomas Cook India worth more with two segments or was it better off split into two? Finally, should Fairbridge delist Thomas Cook India or keep it public?

Porsche is taking in more money from its options strategies than it is from the sale of cars. Some of the earnings are on foreign exchange options, but a significant chunk of the profits is coming from the company's huge stake in Volkswagen. Company executives argue they have built the stake in Volkswagen to fend off the takeover of its partner by another company, but others are crying foul, indicating that the company's speculation is too risky. They are questioning whether the company is still a car manufacturer or if it has become a hedge fund. Students are asked to recommend the best course of action.

It is July of 2007 and Alan Frost, executive vice president for AIG Financial Products (AIGFP) has just received a heads up on a margin call from Goldman Sachs. The next day the company served AIGFP with an invoice for collateral worth $1.8 billion on $20 billion notional value of credit default swaps (CDS) related to the housing market. As the market fell, homeowners defaulted, making the value of the securities underlying the CDS plummet. AIGFP had up until this point thought that the prospect of every having to pay up on the CDS was virtually non-existent. Students will have to decide if the company underestimated the risk.

After a period of poor stock-market performance, conglomerate Chestnut Foods (Chestnut) faces the acquisition of its stock by an activist investor. The new investor demands the sale of Chestnut's high-growth division, which contrasts with the CFO's turnaround plan to expand this same division. To disentangle the way forward for Chestnut, students are invited to grapple with the risk-adjusted performance of each division and the estimation of division-specific hurdle rates. Students learn to appreciate the importance of using risk-adjusted hurdle rates in establishing appropriate investment policy. This case has been used in Darden's first-year required finance course. It is designed to be used within a module on estimating the cost of capital, but after students have become familiar with the basic techniques for estimating a weighted average cost of capital."

After a period of poor stock-market performance, conglomerate Chestnut Foods (Chestnut) faces the acquisition of its stock by an activist investor. The new investor demands the sale of Chestnut's high-growth division, which contrasts with the CFO's turnaround plan to expand this same division. To disentangle the way forward for Chestnut, students are invited to grapple with the risk-adjusted performance of each division and the estimation of division-specific hurdle rates. Students learn to appreciate the importance of using risk-adjusted hurdle rates in establishing appropriate investment policy.

This note is a brief introduction to the logic and practice of using stock options to compensate executives. The Black-Scholes option-pricing model is used to estimate the value of option grants for a company. The note affords the opportunity to apply options valuation in the context of executive compensation, and serves as a companion to introductions to options that expose the reader to the Black-Scholes option-pricing model.

The chief compliance officer at NYR Financial Services (NYR) faces a decision-making dilemma regarding whether or not to increase a settlement offer to a client. This particular client has lodged a complaint against the investment firm, alleging that his money was inappropriately invested, given the risk tolerance level of his portfolio. The client believes that as a result of this mismanagement, he has lost over $100,000. The complaint has been reviewed by several panels of finance experts, including the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI), with the latter concluding that NYR owes the client a settlement of $40,000. NYR’s compliance officer must now decide between two options: meet the client somewhere in the middle, or inform the OBSI that NYR will not be following the panel’s recommendation. If NYR chooses the latter option, OBSI will go public with NYR’s refusal to abide by the ombudsman’s advice. See supplemental case 9B14N026.

Supplement to 9B14N023.