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Describes the auction of Cable & Wireless America (CWA), a bankrupt subsidiary of the British telecommunications company Cable & Wireless. While an initial "stalking horse" bid valued the assets at $125 million, after a long day and night of bidding between eight groups, the best bid was in the high $60 million range. The sell-side team, comprised of bankers from the Blackstone Group and Greenhill, and lawyers from Wachtell Lipton and Kirkland & Ellis, is forced to regroup and reconsider their options for galvanizing the bidding process. Describes these events in detail, while providing information for students on CWA's history, the nature of Section 363 auctions, and the bidders who were involved in the process.

Venture capital in Asia has exhibited remarkable growth over the last two decades. Researchers and practitioners have, however, expressed doubts as to whether what is being reported as venture capital in Asia can really be classified as such. Authors of scholarly studies often avoid this debate and, consequently, fail to caution readers about the applicability of their research findings. Through an exploration of the history, development, and composition of venture capital in Asia, not only confirms significant differences between Asian and traditional venture capital, but also finds that venture capital in Asia differs little from what is commonly called private equity. As such, a need exists within the venture capital literature to recognize this peculiarity of the Asian venture capital market. Moreover, venture capitalists considering expansion into Asia must comprehend the nature of the Asian market in order to avoid disillusionment and frustrations which may result from inadequate understanding.

Provides an overview of the evolution of the private retirement savings market in the U.S. since 1990; the management and administration of defined-contribution (DC) plans; the existing evidence about the investment and savings decisions of participants in DC plans; and the Pension Protection Act of 2006.

This case looks at an in-house experiment conducted by a plant manager to determine whether his quality control machines are functioning properly. The case can be used to help students understand the concept of variation and sources of variation. It is also useful for illustrating the effective use of descriptive statistics, single sample tests, paired tests and their non-parametric equivalents.

Spreadsheet Supplement for case 207129.

Spreadsheet Supplement for case 207123.

Nordic Telephone Company, formed by a consortium of private equity firms, has made a public tender offer for Denmark's leading telecommunications company, TDC. TDC's board of directors approved the take-private transaction, and 88% of shareholders have accepted the offer. Nordic Telephone must gain 90% of TDC's shares to force compulsory redemption under Denmark law. However, a pension fund that held 5.5% of the outstanding stock has rejected the offer. Should Nordic Telephone lower its 90% acceptance threshold and purchase TDC without a guarantee of full ownership, or should TDC walk away from the table?

Kinder Morgan, Inc., was a leader in the transportation and distribution of energy throughout North America, managing a master limited partnership with over $35 billion in infrastructure assets. In the summer of 2006, Richard Kinder, the founder and Chairman of Kinder Morgan, led a consortium of buyers to take the company private. The independent board of directors of Kinder Morgan must decide whether or not to accept Kinder's offer and assess the fairness of the proposal, given the conflicts of interest in this management buyout.

The Vanguard Group is one of the largest asset managers in the U.S., with over $1 trillion in assets, ninety percent of which are mutual fund assets, and more than 12,000 employees at year-end 2006. Vanguard has built a strong reputation as the manager of reference for low-cost investing and high-quality customer service which always does what it thinks is best for its clients. Vanguard has recently launched a family of life-cycle funds called Target Retirement Funds. Life-cycle funds, which have proven popular both with investors in company-sponsored defined-contribution pension plans and with individual investors, are built on the idea of "age-based investing," or the notion that investors should allocate more of their long-term savings to stocks when they are young and have longer retirement horizons, and decrease this allocation as they approach retirement. The management at Vanguard is examining the central role of these funds may play in some initiatives aimed at growing Vanguard's retail, defined contribution and client advisory services. The pending approval of the Pension Protection Act will make it possible for sponsors of defined-contribution plans to take a more active role in advising plan participants, and the assets in individual retirement accounts and defined-contribution pension plans are expected to continue their rapid growth moving forward. Should Vanguard promote these funds as the next step in Vanguard's quest to make investing as simple, low-cost, and effective as it can possibly be? At stake is Vanguard's brand and client trust, and the welfare of millions of Americans now responsible for providing for their own retirement.

Nextel Partners' shareholders have voted to exercise a put option that will require the company's largest shareholder, Sprint Nextel Corp., to purchase all the shares it does not already own. However, the put option does not stipulate a price to be paid, but rather a process involving third-party appraisers, who will set the sale price. This is so even though Nextel Partners is a publicly traded company. Raises issues regarding the definition and determination of "fair market value" and permits discussion of topics such as control premia, discounts for illiquidity, and possible departures by the stock price from "fair market value."

Traces the genesis and founding of Zoots, the largest chain of dry cleaning establishments in the U.S. Founded by some of the founders of the very successful Staples chain, the company raises a very large amount of capital without fully proving its business model, and by 2006 is in need of yet more funding. Pushes students to dissect the business model and current operations--and their financial performance--and figure out what went wrong initially, if the business model and operations are now on solid footing, and, assuming capital can be raised, whether it is better to take the "bird in the hand" of significant capital at an admittedly disappointing valuation, or wait for a strategic investor who would pay a higher price but will need significantly more time to complete due diligence.

Spreadsheet Supplement for case 807139

After interviewing for the position of chief financial officer at a small business, North Mountain Nursery, John Powers decides to look at its financial statements for 2006. Discovering that there is no statement of cash flow, he decides to create one himself.

This is the background to an exercise in negotiation. A promising venture-capital-backed company, EZAmuse Communications, is raising a B round. Its existing backer, Reality Venture Partners, would like it to raise enough for six or nine months, when it will have results on its current products and be able to raise a C round at a higher valuation. The new and talented CEO, who has succeeded with Reality in the past, would like to raise a larger amount now to avoid raising a C round (and preserve his own position). The keenest interest has come from a German firm that tends to do larger later-stage deals and would happily fund the company's entire needs. In the negotiations, explores the tradeoffs and dynamics of the situation.

Supplements the (A) case.

Supplements the (A) case.

Supplements the (A) case.

John Lynch, CEO of the Dressen Division of Westinghouse, was elated by the proposed leveraged buyout by the private equity firm, Warburg Pincus Ventures. The buyout would rid the division of a 'bad' parent and place the division's destiny in its own hands. A recently instituted restructuring plan seemed likely to improve profitability, but the turnaround was in its infancy. Would sources of finance support a financing plan that relied heavily on debt? Would Warburg Pincus Ventures be prepared to pay a price sufficient to win the bidding contest?

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