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When the credit markets seized up in 2008, many heaped blame on "mark to market" accounting rules, which require banks to write down their troubled assets to the prices they'd fetch if sold on the open market - at the time, next to nothing. Recording those assets below their "true" value, critics argued, drove financial institutions toward insolvency. Proponents of marking to market, on the other hand, said it exposed executives' bad decisions. If not for this fair value accounting practice, investors would be kept in the dark about the banks' real state of affairs. In this article, Pozen, the chairman of MFS Investment Management, dispels the myths about fair value accounting. For example, it's untrue that most bank assets are marked to market - in 2008 just a third were. Not all write-downs reduce the banks' regulatory capital. Nor is it true that under historical cost accounting, companies don't have to acknowledge changes in market value; they're required to record permanent impairments to assets. After explaining the controversy, Pozen proposes a solution: new, transparent practices that would draw on the best of both historical cost and fair value accounting. If adopted, they could balance the banks' desire to present assets in a good light with investors' need to understand the banks' exposures - and perhaps make everyone happy.

In September 2007, the marketing manager for London Life Insurance Company's (London Life) Freedom Funds was preoccupied by thoughts of his upcoming meeting with London Life's vice-president of Marketing, Individual Retirement and Investment Services. The vice-president was concerned with the past summer's appreciation of the Canadian dollar versus the U.S. dollar. Since March of 2007, the Canadian dollar had appreciated over 10 per cent against its U.S. counterpart with the result of eroding returns on London Life's U.S. funds. The marketing manager had been asked to research the drivers behind the sudden change in currency and whether it was a sustainable trend; if so, he was to advise the steps London Life should take to protect its investment returns on its U.S. funds. Complicating the analysis was the knowledge that his advice needed to incorporate and respect London Life's investment philosophies, be easily understood by its almost 3,000 financial advisors and their clients, and acknowledge the complexities surrounding the implementation of currency-hedging strategies.

The founder of Trichromatic West Inc. (TCW) has decided that he would like to explore the possibility of selling the business he has spent the last 20 years building. The founder has asked a group of students from the Richard Ivey School of Business to help establish a benchmark valuation for TCW against which future offers can be evaluated. In addition, the founder is interested in the team's recommendation for positioning TCW for a potential sale.

In October 2008, the manager of client services at Duckworth Asset Management Inc. (Duckworth), an investment firm headquartered in St. John's, Newfoundland, was preparing for a briefing with Duckworth's vice-president of investments. The vice-president had been fielding several phone calls in the past few weeks, all from clients concerned about the significant drop in global financial markets. Since its June 2008 peak, Canada's S&P/TSX had dropped 33 per cent - one of the fastest market corrections in history. One client in particular - the Canadian Swimming Scholarship Foundation (CSSF) - had asked for a meeting with the vice-president regarding alternative investments. The CSSF had heard from another foundation that market neutral strategies could help them manage the volatility they were experiencing with their current holdings. The vice-president had asked the client-services manager to prepare a recommendation on how to best explain events in the current market, the concept of investment risk and if a market neutral strategy could help reduce total portfolio vulnerability.

In October 2008, the senior vice-president for product and business development at IA Clarington (IAC), a life and health insurance company, was preparing for a meeting with the president of IAC. The topic of discussion would be IAC's Target Click Fund, a mutual fund with an options-based guarantee structure targeted towards investors who were looking for growth along with capital preservation. The vice-president had been asked to render his opinion of whether he thought that the fund's scheduled rebalancing date should be accelerated in order to take advantage of a historic decline in global equity markets. The vice-president had to consider several pieces of information in making his recommendation, including that fact that his main competitors would be quick to take advantage of any misguided recommendation. He wondered if the markets had truly hit bottom, and how/if he could time the rebalancing to the lowest point. Also, the investment philosophy behind IAC and click funds encouraged investors to remain invested during turbulent times: what would changing the rebalancing date indicate to those investors?

The investment manager at Prairie Ventures Limited, a Saskatchewan based venture capital firm, is examining the merits of financing a management buyout of Crestline Coach, a manufacturer of ambulances and distributor of buses. Students must design a term sheet and create an appropriate financing package. Students are provided with an Excel model to assist in their analysis.

In May 2008, the board of directors of BCE Inc., one of Canada’s leading integrated communications companies, was dealing with the fallout of a Quebec Court of Appeal decision. The court had ruled to disallow a $50 billion privatization deal as, according to the court, the process was flawed and did not consider the debenture (bond) holders of Bell Canada (a wholly owned subsidiary of BCE). The court had ruled that the board had allowed a deal in which benefits accrued only to the shareholders (a 40 per cent increase in value since the firm was in play) at the expense of the bondholders, who were dealt an 18 per cent decrease in value over the same period. In deciding whether or not to launch a last-ditch appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, management and the board needed to determine who were the key stakeholders involved in the decision to take the firm private, what their interests were, and how those interests should guide the board.

The investment committee of Grove Street Advisors, a pioneer in the provision of customized private equity funds-of-funds for pension fund clients, must decide how to respond to the market opportunities and challenges presented by the turmoil of 2008 and 2009. How can they shift their strategy to fill new market niches, or should they stay with their successful approach thus far, even though the market is getting crowded? The case also presents background about the roles of intermediaries in private equity.

In October 2008, the senior vice-president for product and business development at IA Clarington (IAC), a life and health insurance company, was preparing for a meeting with the president of IAC. The topic of discussion would be IAC's Target Click Fund, a mutual fund with an options-based guarantee structure targeted towards investors who were looking for growth along with capital preservation. The vice-president had been asked to render his opinion of whether he thought that the fund's scheduled rebalancing date should be accelerated in order to take advantage of a historic decline in global equity markets. The vice-president had to consider several pieces of information in making his recommendation, including that fact that his main competitors would be quick to take advantage of any misguided recommendation. He wondered if the markets had truly hit bottom, and how/if he could time the rebalancing to the lowest point. Also, the investment philosophy behind IAC and click funds encouraged investors to remain invested during turbulent times: what would changing the rebalancing date indicate to those investors?

Students explore the variability in earnings due solely to the need to make estimates for several common financial statement asset-related expense items. They consider depreciable asset lives and residual values; estimated uncollectible accounts receivable; and temporary versus permanent losses on marketable equity security investments. The case can be used as an asset module capstone case either an undergraduate- or graduate-level introductory financial reporting/accounting course. Alternatively, it could be used to introduce the asset module of an accounting course. A new medical practice is about to be launched and is seeking investors. As one of the doctors puts the final touches on a pro forma income statement, he must make several estimates that are required/allowed under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) to finalize the projected first year earnings figure.

This technical note expands on the previous note, "Forwards and Futures" (UV1045), which introduced the basics of forward and futures contracts. It begins with examples where the hedging was one-for-one and the maturity of the futures contract exactly matched the timing of the transaction. Often times the hedging approach is not as clear as it is in those examples. This note covers hedging and more complex examples.

Spreadsheet Supplement for case 210007

The Endowment Model of Investing, which was based on creating high risk-adjusted performance through diversification, a long time-horizon, top-notch outside managers, and illiquid investments, had served Notre Dame and other large universities well over the past several decades. Scott Malpass, Notre Dame's Chief Investment Officer, was confident that this was a successful way to invest if implemented effectively, but he also saw the top university endowments experience 25% to 35% declines in portfolio value during the second half of 2008 that eviscerated the investment gains from the past several years. Notre Dame had weathered the crisis relatively well, but there were several key questions Malpass had to address. Should Notre Dame continue to make illiquid investments in the context of rising unfunded commitments relative to liquid funds? Was compensation adequate for the illiquidity of these types of investments? In relation to manager selection, how could the Notre Dame investment team continue to find the best managers to create alpha? To what extent would the performance of managers during the crisis be predictive of future performance in other portions of the economic cycle? How would the long-established industry terms of contract between clients and managers change going forward? Was there an opportunity for clients to negotiate better terms? These issues all needed to be addressed in the context of protecting the University's operating budget and supporting the mission of the institution.

This case provides a means to illustrate enterprise valuation analysis questions such as: 1) Given a stock price, what is the implied value attributable to the operating business? 2) Given a valuation multiple for an operating business, what is the implied target stock price? In addition, the case 1) illustrates how arbitrage acts to enforce the law of one price and keep markets efficient 2) provides a model case to understand why stocks can become mispriced 3) shows application of a stub valuation analysis 4) provides an illustration of a common hedge fund strategy (long/short equity) 5) show how to calculate margin requirements for a portfolio containing both long and short positions 6) illustrates the effects of leverage and capital requirements on investment returns 7) provides an example framework to calculate risk in a complex investment position.

In August 2009, a portfolio manager for Resolute Funds Inc. is considering adding WestJet Airlines to his fund’s holdings. WestJet, a fast-growing airline based in Calgary, Alberta, has grown rapidly from a start-up to the second-largest airline in Canada. Despite its recent successes, its share price has halved from its high in December 2007, due to the economic crisis. The portfolio manager is trying to determine whether WestJet’s shares are attractive. To support his analysis, he has asked his team to assemble comparative financial data on WestJet and its key competitors. The portfolio manager wants to know if he should buy, hold, or sell WestJet’s shares.

This note introduces the concept of risk or merger arbitrage. Risk arbitrage is an investing method that attempts to capitalize on announced transactions pertaining ti mergers, spin-off, takeovers, liquidations and corporate restructuring. The arbitrageur attempts to create riskless profit by simultaneous purchase and/or sales of assets that are part of the announced transaction. In the the note we outline the basics types of deals and methods to evaluate their profitability.

This short case could be handed out at the end of class discussion on "J&L Railroad" [UV0251] in preparation for the following class, or if students are more experienced with hedging and option pricing, the instructor may choose to cover both cases in a single class period. It is the companion case to "J&L Railroad" [UV0251], and presents more technical issues regarding the hedging problem by requiring students to understand option-pricing principles. The board likes the CFO's hedging recommendations, but it wants a more careful analysis of the bank's prices for its risk-management products: the caps and floors. Besides demanding an understanding of option pricing, this case puts particular emphasis on the calculation and use of implied volatility.

A diversified mid-sized manufacturer of kitchen tools contemplates a stock repurchase in response to an unsolicited takeover. The company must determine the optimal debt capacity and capital structure, and subsequently estimate the resulting change in firm value and stock price. Attention is also given to the value of interest tax shields.

Spreadsheet Supplement for 4040

This case involves the decision to move investment funds to a new fund manager. The new fund has high percentage of its assets in nontraditional assets such as hedge funds and private equity. The learning objectives of the case are to provide background on the different types of assets available for investment by large endowment portfolios. The case also provides an opportunity to discuss market efficiency and the risk return trades involved with nontraditional assets.