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This case provides a discussion of critical illness insurance from various perspectives. The case first looks at critical illness insurance from both a consumer's and life insurers' perspectives. The case then discusses critical illness insurance's position in a changing healthcare and health insurance environment before considering its relevance in the future.

A student in his final year at a management school has been asked by his uncle to suggest an optimal investment portfolio for the reinvestment of his retirement account. His uncle wants to invest only in mutual funds managed by reputed asset management companies that have historically given superior returns. He also wants to limit the risk involved to less than 10 per cent per annum. The student now needs to prepare a portfolio that offers the highest possible return for the risk defined by his uncle.

Student spreadsheet for case W14232.

In January 2001, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Canadian Pacific Limited (CPL) was contemplating the future of his firm. CPL was one of Canada's oldest conglomerates with operations in railways, shipping, natural resources and hotels. Its stock market capitalization of CDN$13.5 billion reflected a conglomerate discount, estimated at 12 to 35 per cent of the value. In order to eliminate this conglomerate discount and maximize shareholder value, the CEO weighed the pros and cons of asset divestitures or spinoffs. Would it make sense to keep some of the related business together to preserve economies of scale and scope and to maintain synergies? What would be the tax implications of each option? There were numerous operational and legal implications to consider. Knowing he had to make a decision quickly, the CEO looked for the option that would unlock the most value for CPL's shareholders.

Student spreadsheet for W14241.

A student in his final year at a management school has been asked by his uncle to suggest an optimal investment portfolio for the reinvestment of his retirement account. His uncle wants to invest only in mutual funds managed by reputed asset management companies that have historically given superior returns. He also wants to limit the risk involved to less than 10 per cent per annum. The student now needs to prepare a portfolio that offers the highest possible return for the risk defined by his uncle.

In January 2001, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Canadian Pacific Limited (CPL) was contemplating the future of his firm. CPL was one of Canada’s oldest conglomerates with operations in railways, shipping, natural resources and hotels. Its stock market capitalization of CDN$13.5 billion reflected a conglomerate discount, estimated at 12 to 35 per cent of the value. In order to eliminate this conglomerate discount and maximize shareholder value, the CEO weighed the pros and cons of asset divestitures or spinoffs. Would it make sense to keep some of the related business together to preserve economies of scale and scope and to maintain synergies? What would be the tax implications of each option? There were numerous operational and legal implications to consider. Knowing he had to make a decision quickly, the CEO looked for the option that would unlock the most value for CPL’s shareholders.

China represents a significant share of global foreign direct investment but its currency comprises a mere 1.5% of all global foreign exchange transactions. This case describes the measures introduced by the Chinese government to promote the use of the renminbi (RMB) in cross-border trade, financing and other internationalization initiatives, as well as the associated challenges.

By the end of 2013, Apple had $137 billion dollars in cash and marketable securities. This case explores how companies can generate such large amounts of cash and how and if they should distribute it to shareholders, especially in the face of shareholder pressure. In the process, students are asked to undertake fundamental financial analyses, including ratio analysis, a financial forecast, and a cash distribution analysis.

Molycorp, the western hemisphere's only producer of rare earth minerals, was in the middle of a $1 billion capital expenditure project in its effort to become a vertically integrated supplier of rare earth minerals, oxides, and metals. Yet it had just reported lower than expected revenues and earnings for the second quarter of 2012. In response to the announcement, its stock price fell 29% (its stock price had fallen from $77 to $11 in the past 18 months). The weakening financial performance was due in large part to falling prices for rare earth minerals. With less internally-generated cash flow available to fund the project, management had to decide: how much capital to raise, what kind to raise, and when to raise it. These decisions would determine its capital structure, at least in the short term, as well as its ability to implement its business strategy.

Developers Jonathan Rose and Adam Weinstein were trying to determine which of three proposals to submit to the city of New York in response to a RFP to create an affordable housing project in the South Bronx. The site, referred to as Via Verde, was a 1.5-acre triangular brownfield in one of the poorest neighborhoods in New York City. It was 2006 and the housing market was peaking but had not yet crashed. Both Rose and Weinstein were experienced developers of low-income housing, the former as CEO of the Jonathan Rose Companies, a national developer, and the latter as CEO of Phipps Houses, the largest non-profit developer and manager of low-income housing in NYC. The three proposal options differed in their risk and return profiles for the developers, and differed in how much they incorporated health-oriented, mixed-income living for the residents.

This is the student spreadsheet supplement to case 214-085, Financial Policy at Apple, 2013 (A).

Spreadsheet supplement to case 214054.

Spreadsheet supplement to case 214027.

In mid-2011, as global markets corrected amid worldwide economic uncertainty, Drew Houston, co-founder and CEO of Dropbox, the fast-growing file synchronization and sharing company, found himself in a difficult, albeit enviable, situation. Houston, who had already raised over $7 million through two rounds of venture funding (one seed round and a Series A round) and developed a large and growing user base, began receiving significant investor interest. With positive cash flows and profitability achieved, additional financing was not necessarily needed. However, in order to pursue future strategic efforts, Houston knew that additional cash was essential. After all, Houston and his team had already successfully executed the freemium business model but they had a greater vision-one that included a "path" to one billion users. In order to achieve this goal, the team delineated a number of strategic initiatives: extending their popular consumer product to the enterprise segment; opening up a platform upon which to allow third-party developers to add services and applications in order to build scale; augmenting the consumer side through distribution partnerships; and finally, finding a way to transition itself from a web-based company to one that could service cross-platform mobile devices. The team also realized that they would need a robust balance sheet to compete with well-established industry leaders such as Google, Apple, Amazon, and Microsoft. They would also need to focus on strategic hiring initiatives and key acquisitions in order to carry out these goals. This case describes Dropbox's path from inception up to its Series B round of financing. Specifically, it focuses on the team's strategic decisions as well as questions surrounding the execution of each initiative. Additional considerations include how much financing to raise, at what valuation, which terms were most important, and with whom to partner.

In the Spring of 2014, Rudy Adolf, CEO and founder of Focus Financial, and the two other co-founders of the firm are considering alternative growth strategies to solidify Focus Financial position as a leading aggregator of independent wealth management firms in the U.S. Focus has grown from $3.5B in client assets at its inception in 2006 to over $70B in and it has acquired more than 30 RIA (Registered Investment Advisor) firms, capitalizing on a secular shift in investors' preferences from a traditional product and commission-driven brokerage model to a fiduciary, fee-based client advice model.<br/><br/> Since the 1970's, independent SEC registered investment advisors (RIAs) have been a growing segment of U.S. wealth managers, steadily winning market share from the dominant, traditional wirehouse broker-dealers. But, with more than $1.4 trillion in assets under management in 2013, the RIA industry is also at a crossroads, with aging advisors with limited succession plans and limited access to capital to fund intergenerational transfers, rising compliance and regulatory complexity, competition from new advice delivery models, and fragmentation. The case examines the RIA business model, the opportunities for growth through consolidation in this industry, and the competitive landscape in the wealth management aggregator sector through the lenses Focus Financial business model, its acquisition and M&A model for RIAs, and its wirehouse breakaway programs. The case examines Focus Financial strategy in the face of rising competition, potential growth paths, and IPO scenarios.<br/><br/> The case presents opportunities for students to explore similarities and differences between the broker-dealer and the RIA retail wealth management business models, strategies for growth and consolidation in the retail wealth management business, and issues related to incentives, organization and valuation of retail wealth management businesses.

Marisa Sanchez, a new Associate at Douglas Private Equity Advisors, confronts a dilemma when she is asked by a Senior Vice President (SVP) to do due diligence on a deal he wants to bring before the investment committee which will include the SVP, Douglas' owner and founder and others. The meeting is timed just before annual bonus season. Marisa's due diligence findings indicate that her boss, the SVP, has significantly misrepresented the market information and that the pricing should be considerably less than he is advocating. He asks her to manipulate the numbers, "to make the numbers work." She has to decide, when asked at the committee meeting, what to say and how.

In late 2012, Michael Dell wants to take Dell Inc., the company he founded, private. Mr. Dell believes that the successful company's transformation from a personal computer (PC) manufacturer to an enterprise solutions and services provider (ESS) is dependent on going private without the short-term results scrutiny public companies face. He and a private equity firm, Silver Lake Partners, have made an offer for the company, which Dell Inc.'s board has accepted. The deal requires the vote of a majority of shareholders. Southeastern Asset Management, an investment firm, and Dell Inc.'s second largest shareholder behind Mr. Dell strongly oppose the deal because the offer is well below what Southeastern believes is Dell Inc.'s intrinsic value. Southeastern, along with activist investor Carl Icahn, wage a campaign to defeat the go-private deal and propose a leveraged recapitalization as an alternative. On several occasions it appears that the deal will be voted down by shareholders, but rule changes made by Dell Inc.'s Board eventually pave the way for Mr. Dell to take the eponymous company private-for a price only slightly higher than the original bid. The case describes the reasons why Mr. Dell wants to take Dell Inc. private, why Southeastern and Icahn oppose the deal, the specifics of both the Dell/Silver Lake bid and of Southeastern's/Icahn's leveraged recapitalization proposals, and the events that took place.

Spreadsheet Supplement for Case UV0513.

This case is meant to accompany Financial Policy at Apple, 2013 (A) and details the results of Apple's Q2 2013 earnings call.