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A commercial property company evaluates water risks including the government's ability to remedy, the company's operating exposure and mitigation, and whether to relocate because of water risk. A real estate fund manager assesses investment prospects in Mexico City in the context of a major water supply and distribution crisis facing one of the world's largest cities. Can the investment manager understand the water problems so she can make a decision whether to invest in Mexico City? What will she learn about how water is sourced and distributed in Mexico City? And how might the potential public-private partnerships being discussed affect her investment prospects? The fund's investors are seeking real estate exposure in major world cities, particularly Mexico City. How can they assess and mitigate this exposure? How can they extend this thinking to other cities and countries?

Corporate mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is a field as complex in law as it is in finance. The environment is heavily regulated: it draws on corporate, securities, antitrust and national security law involving obligations at the federal, provincial and self-regulatory levels. This note is designed to introduce non-lawyer managers and finance professionals to the technical securities law issues related to changes of corporate control. While this note deals primarily with the legal aspects of M&A in Canada, deals involving Canadian companies will often involve foreign counterparts. The topic of cross-border M&A is beyond the scope of this note, but, where relevant, distinctions will be drawn throughout between legal terminology, processes and approaches as they differ across the border - most often with the United States.

Darlarna is a manufacturer of high-end Swedish-style furniture. It has grown rapidly since its formation in 2005 and is currently attempting to expand into the U.S. market. In early 2009, after releasing the financial statements from the accountants, the owner became very concerned about a dramatic decrease in profits and all the bad news relating to the financial crisis in the United States. A chartered accountant was hired to conduct an analysis of Darlarna's operations and to make recommendations for future actions within the week.

Shenzhen Zhongjin Lingnan Nonfemet Co. (SZLN) is a Chinese company that is contemplating the purchase of an Australian mining company. The management of SZLN must assess the merits of the acquisition, the offer to be made, how it is to be financed and the political implications of the purchase for both the governments of China and Australia.

Corporate mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is a field as complex in law as it is in finance. The environment is heavily regulated: it draws on corporate, securities, antitrust and national security law involving obligations at the federal, provincial and self-regulatory levels. This note is designed to introduce non-lawyer managers and finance professionals to the technical securities law issues related to changes of corporate control. While this note deals primarily with the legal aspects of M&A in Canada, deals involving Canadian companies will often involve foreign counterparts. The topic of cross-border M&A is beyond the scope of this note, but, where relevant, distinctions will be drawn throughout between legal terminology, processes and approaches as they differ across the border most often with the United States.

An analyst for a private equity firm has been asked to design a capital structure for the leveraged buyout of a security alarm company. Students are provided with an extensive financial model, which facilitates the analysis. Key issues in the case involve the design of covenants for the debt instruments and determining which alternative financing arrangement leads to the best rate of return while managing the level of risk.

An analyst at a New York based investment bank has been given the task of suggesting the offering price for a forthcoming initial public offering. The analyst must also summarize the risks and opportunities associated with an investment in the stock for use by the investment bank's sales force. The case is heavily focused on the comparable method of valuing a stock.

An analyst at a New York based investment bank has been given the task of suggesting the offering price for a forthcoming initial public offering. The analyst must also summarize the risks and opportunities associated with an investment in the stock for use by the investment bank's sales force. The case is heavily focused on the "comparable" method of valuing a stock.

Brett Barakett, CEO and founder of Tremblant Capital Group, a New York-based hedge fund, must decide what to do with his fund's position in Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, which has dropped in value by more than 40 percent in recent months. Tremblant is a hedge fund that specializes in forecasting consumer behavioral change, and capitalizes on the disconnect between stock prices and consumer behavior. In the case of Green Mountain Coffee, many other sophisticated investors have taken short positions in the stock, leading Barakett to question whether his fund had the right trade thesis.

This note intends to clarify various discounted cash flow valuations and their usefulness. It examines how different methods analyze cash flow from different perspectives but finally arrive at an identical decision.

This note provides a comprehensive research guide for real estate students, professionals, and executives. It includes lists of real estate industry trade organizations, publicly available research resources, books, and journals relevant to a wide range of financial and operational careers in real estate.

The case is appropriate for use in finance courses but requires knowledge of option pricing, including put-call parity. Students should also have had exposure to the principles of financial engineering. Can be taught as part of a risk-management module in a corporate finance elective also is appropriate for a derivatives course from the standpoint of designing and pricing a financially engineered product. The risk management aspect of the case is conducive to productive discussion regarding the regulation of derivatives as part of the reform of the financial system in reaction to the financial crisis. This case describes a structured note marketed during the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007-08. The security in this case was an index knock-out note, which had been designed by Credit Suisse for the private banking market. Adopting the viewpoint of a private banking client, students must decide whether they would invest in the note based on its unique risk profile.

Spreadsheet for case UV5608

This case builds on the A case (UV1730). Marlene Baer, the controller of Breeden Electronics, recognizes that grouping all manufacturing overhead costs together and allocating them to Breeden's two products is not very accurate. She groups overhead costs by activity and then allocates them to the two products. The system resembles a simple activity-based-costing system. This is the second in a series of three cases that can be used to explore the evolution of cost systems. The main issues of the three cases are as follows: in the A case, the company uses a traditional costing system. The main questions relate to breakeven analysis and the effect of inventory buildup on profit. The B case introduces the definition of activities, costing those activities, and computing product cost based on their use of the activities. The revised product costs are not dramatically different, but analyzing what causes the differences is important to discovering where ABC can provide valuable information. The C case (UV1734) takes place after the end of the year, when profits have been reduced by the need to take care of a growing and increasingly complex packing and shipping activity. The controller defines a new activity (order handling), computes the cost per order, and begins to revise the data on product profitability and to develop new data on customer profitability. Having discovered the high cost of handling each order, the controller now has good reason to work on activity-based management: making that process more efficient, and perhaps more customer friendly. The three cases can be used in three classes, or the A and B cases together in one class and the C case in a second class.

Murray Douglas is the new chief executive officer (CEO) of Douglas Fine Foods (DFF), a family-owned business in its 80th year. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, DFF has grown to become Canada's largest privately held food services company, doing $30 million worth of business annually. DFF provides business dining, residence and camp food services, catering, vending machine services, and food service equipment and design. The business serves clients in various industries including schools, sports arenas and concessions, warehouses, government offices and corporations. Douglas needs to make several key decisions concerning DFF, including how to pay for a buyout of his brother's shares; whether to renew a contract with an undesirable customer; whether to pursue an active acquisition strategy; and how to transform the business to become a world-class, professionally managed organization. Students must evaluate complexities and trade-offs in making a sequence of decisions; outline a clear strategy and vision for the company; prioritize strategic options; define elements of an acquisition strategy; determine financing options for cash-constrained firm; and manage internal culture transformation.

An analyst for a private equity firm has been asked to design a capital structure for the leveraged buyout of a security alarm company. Students are provided with an extensive financial model, which facilitates the analysis. Key issues in the case involve the design of covenants for the debt instruments and determining which alternative financing arrangement leads to the best rate of return while managing the level of risk.

Brett Barakett, CEO and founder of Tremblant Capital Group, a New York-based hedge fund, must decide what to do with his fund's position in Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, which has dropped in value by more than 40 percent in recent months. Tremblant is a hedge fund that specializes in forecasting consumer behavioral change, and capitalizes on the disconnect between stock prices and consumer behavior. In the case of Green Mountain Coffee, many other sophisticated investors have taken short positions in the stock, leading Barakett to question whether his fund had the right trade thesis.

This case considers the viability of a momentum-oriented trading strategy in U.S. equities in 2006. The case, created for use in an investment course, provides both historical performance on the trading strategy and provides the universe of U.S. equity return data in which to execute a proposed strategy.

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) has put in place a strong governance structure to ensure that excess contributions (by Canadians) can be invested with a singular mandate - to maximize the rate of return without undue risk of loss. In September 2009, a private member's bill seeks to regulate Canadian government agencies' dealings with Canadian mining companies operating in developing countries. A senior manager at the CPPIB has been asked to help craft the CPPIB's response to the bill.

Groupe Ariel evaluates a proposal from its Mexican subsidiary to purchase and install cost-saving equipment at a manufacturing facility in Monterrey. The improvements will allow the plant to automate recycling and remanufacturing of toner and printer cartridges, an important part of Ariel's business in many markets. Ariel corporate policy requires a discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis and an estimate for the net present value (NPV) for capital expenditures in foreign markets. A major challenge for the analysis is deciding which currency to use, the Euro or the peso. The case introduces techniques of discounted cash flow valuation analysis in a multi-currency setting and can be used to teach basic international parity conditions related to the value of operating cash flows.