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A previously employed equity trader at a prominent New York investment bank has returned as an MBA summer intern. Her primary responsibility is to assist the heads of the HR department with the integration of a recently acquired California equity research firm. The case opens and ends with the intern trying to manage an irate head of security for a perceived breach of security caused by differences in New York and California labor laws while in between other issues of varying urgency are raised. This case lets students approach real-time post-merger integration issues from both a technical and human relations point of view. Key issues addressed in the case include assembling the "right" integration team, resolving title- and salary-mapping differences, and managing a significant cultural shift.

In February 2005, Jeffrey Tarrant (HBS '85) and Ted Seides (HBS '99) considered their strategy for Protege Partners, founded in July 2002 as a fund of hedge funds (FOHF) specializing in small hedge funds. Protege's assets under management had grown to $1.1 billion, and Protege's development almost exactly mirrored the founders' expectations from 2001. Although the founders saw benefits to growth, they remained committed to the integrity of managing a small fund and wanted to continue generating superior performance for their clients. Should they close the Protege FOHF to new investors and focus on managing the existing assets as they originally intended? Could they continue to increase assets under management without taking on more top-level professionals? Should they hire additional analytical staff to help them grow Protege? Should they leverage Protege's special relationships with seeded managers to create a multistrategy hedge fund? Perhaps most important, how would their valued clients react to change?

A five-member team from Berkshire Partners must recommend a final bid and financial structure for a leveraged buyout of William Carter Co., a leading producer of children's apparel. Investorcorp, a global investment group, has put the company up for auction. Goldman Sachs, in addition to running the auction, was offering "staple-on" financing. Under this arrangement, the winning bidder would have the option to finance the deal through a prepackaged capital structure.

This disguised case examines the highly provocative issue of outsourcing to a low-cost country based on a thorough analysis of competitive cost drivers. The case demonstrates that labor cost is only one potential advantage and that transportation cost and other factors could more than offset labor savings in some product lines.

Spreadsheet Supplement for case 205105

Options are contracts that give the right, but not the obligation, to either buy or sell a specific underlying security for a specified price on or before a specific date. Explains the basis of options, covering fundamentals such as option terminology, the payoff schemes of options, parameters that influence their value, the put-call parity, and the upper and lower bounds of options prices. Presents problems for students to solve.

For every option, a fair price has to be established. But how do you actually price an option? Assuming a basic knowledge of options, this note covers two pricing methods: the binominal tree and the Black-Scholes/Merton formula.

The senior managing partner of Actis, a leading private equity investor in emerging markets, must decide whether to go into the market to raise money. Actis was spun out of CDC, a 50-year-old division of the U.K.'s Department for International Development, and is guaranteed a substantial flow of capital under the terms of the demerger agreement. Actis management has to decide whether to focus on developing relationships with its chief limited partner and honing its internal processes or to go out into the market to raise funds.

A recent MBA graduate is working as vice-president of equity sales for an investment bank in the Ukraine. The firm's managing director has requested a recommendation regarding whether they should start investing in Ukrainian equities on their own account or retain their practice of acting purely as an agent--buying and selling shares for clients without taking any ownership position.

In March 2003, a client approached the Markets Advisory Group at ICICI Bank, India's second largest bank, about a hedging transaction. The hedge involved multiple interest rates and currencies. Shilpa Kumar, head of the Markets Advisory Group, has to put together a recommendation for the client. She can choose from a number of financial instruments, including swaps, options, and futures contracts on interest rates and currencies, in her recommendation.

In September, 2004, Stephen Lebowitz, President of CBL, a $6 billion publicly traded shopping mall real estate investment trust (REIT) with over 70 million square feet, is considering acquiring 170 acres for a new retail development at a racetrack site in Southern New Hampshire. First, Stephen has to calculate the value of the land to make his bid based on current market conditions and local zoning. Next, Stephen has to consider how the public securities markets will react, good and bad, to a shopping center REIT doing a new development at this time.

How can a multinational firm analyze and manage currency risks that arise from competitive exposures? General Motors has a substantial competitive exposure to the Japanese yen. Although the risks GM faces from the depreciating yen are widely acknowledged, the company's corporate hedging policy does not provide any guidelines on managing such competitive exposures. Eric Feldstein, treasurer and vice-president of finance, has to quantify GM's yen exposure and recommend a way for GM to manage the risks that arise from its competitive exposure. Students must analyze the impact of a yen depreciation on GM sales and profits. A rewritten version of an earlier case.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBEO) must decide how to respond to new competition in the market for financial options. Options have typically been a very liquid asset class, despite the fact that many single-name options are listed on the CBOE, the second largest options exchange in the world. In response to this illiquidity, new options exchanges have started offering electronic trading, with the hope of making the markets more liquid and capturing market share and profitability from the CBOE. The CBOE must now decide whether to ignore the competition and continue with its floor-based model of trading or switch to an all-electronic trading model or some type of hybrid model.

How should a multinational firm manage foreign exchange exposures? Examines transactional and translational exposures and alternative responses to these exposures by analyzing two specific hedging decisions by General Motors. Describes General Motors' corporate hedging policies, its risk management structure, and how accounting rules impact hedging decisions. Although the overall corporate hedging policy provides a consistent approach to the foreign exchange risks that General Motors must manage, the company also has to consider deviations from prescribed policies. Describes two such situations: a significant exposure to the Canadian dollar with adverse accounting consequences and GM's exposure to the Argentinean currency when devaluation is widely anticipated. Students must evaluate the risks General Motors faces in each situation and consider which hedging strategy--if any--might be appropriate. Additionally, asks students to analyze the financial costs and accounting treatment of alternative derivative transactions for hedging purposes. A rewritten version of an earlier case.

Mike Lawrie, the newly appointed CEO of Siebel Systems, considers a combination of growth and spending cuts to turn around the struggling software company. Focuses on the role of the chief financial officer, Ken Goldman, in corporate governance and compliance under Sarbanes-Oxley; in establishing a financial model for the firm; in operations and leadership; and in investor relations under Regulation FD. Goldman, who had presided over rapid growth at several other technology firms before joining Siebel three years earlier, must adapt to Siebel's new leadership and operating environment.

In 2001, a Nigerian holding company was deciding how much to pay for a major Nigerian oil marketing firm. Explores the challenges facing a fast-growing, leveraged buyout firm operating in a global economy but constrained by imperfect local financial and legal institutions.

Supplements the (A) case.

Supplements the (A) case.

In 2003, a Namibian entrepreneur was deciding how to finance and manage the risks of an ecotourism, nature reserve, venture project. Explores the challenges facing an entrepreneur operating in an emerging market with imperfect local financial and legal institutions.