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In November 2000, a money manager needs to make a decision regarding an offering of convertible bonds by Corning. The analysis requires her to compare the insights available from standard descriptive ratios to those available from valuation analysis. This case is intended to be a student's first exercise in analyzing convertible bonds and assumes some familiarity with option pricing theory and bond valuation. In addition, the case highlights the importance of going beyond the convertible bond calculations. The volatility of Corning stock has increased in the past year, and makes the call option more valuable, but at the same time Corning appears to be issuing converts at a time when both its share price and stock market valuations are at historic highs. Thus it is imperative that the student "have a view" on the sustainability of stock market valuations and the outlook for Corning.

In June 2001, the owners of this small rapidly growing sports promotion firm are assessing the financing implications of their growth plans. Threshold Sports organizes professional cycling races, and holds major race franchises for several large U.S. cities. It seeks to expand quickly the number of events that it manages, eventually to build professional cycling in the United States to a level consistent with Europe. The growth outlook creates a financing need of $500,000. The case presents three financing alternatives: debt, common equity, and convertible preferred stock. The task for the student is to assess the alternatives and make a recommendation. The choice hinges importantly on the estimated value of the firm.

Alfonso Cortina, chair of Repsol-YPF S.A., accepted the award from the Financial Times for the best merger in the energy sector in 1999. The acquisition, which closed on June 28, 1999, boosted the firm's share price despite a strategy of hostile acquisition and significant change in the firm's capital structure.

Set in December 2000 immediately following the merger announcement between PepsiCo Inc. and the Quaker Oats Company, asks students to examine the implications of the merger for the rivalry between Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo, and for value creation by each firm. Because the merger would allow PepsiCo to control Gatorade, which held an 83% share in the sports drink market, PepsiCo would further strengthen its already wide lead over Coca-Cola Co. in the noncarbonated drinks segment. Would Coca-Cola's historically stellar performance in terms of value creation be threatened by the merger?

In early 1991, Reynolds Metals, the makers of aluminum products, decided to sell its holding of Eskimo Pie, a marketer of branded frozen novelties. Reynolds had an offer from Nestle to acquire Eskimo Pie. However, Reynolds decided instead to make an initial public offering of Eskimo Pie shares.

In 1998, BAESA, PepsiCo's largest bottler and distributor outside North America, experienced severe financial difficulty and had to restructure its debt and business operations to avoid bankruptcy or liquidation. Based in Argentina, with operations throughout South America, the company had for years been a spectacular success story and media darling, until it undertook an ill-fated expansion in Brazil. The company's debt was owed to banks and financial institutions in South America, Asia, Europe, and the United States. In addition, the company had $60 million of publicly traded bonds, much of them held by U.S. investors. The restructuring was the largest and most complicated undertaking of its kind ever taken in South America. In addition to negotiating with its bankers and making a public exchange offer for its bonds, the company made a massive common stock rights offering to its shareholders, giving them the opportunity to purchase new stock in the company. It also considered filing a "prepackaged" Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States to pressure U.S. bondholders to go along with the plan. The negotiations were greatly complicated by differences in the bankruptcy laws of Argentina, Brazil, and the United States.

Open book management (OBM) means opening a company's financial statements to all employees and providing the education that enables them to understand how the firm makes money and how their actions affect the bottom line. It is a method of managing without concealment that involves all employees in focusing on how to grow the business profitably. The experience of Manco, Inc., a medium-size supplier of branded consumer products for retail and office product channels, illustrates the four essential steps of OBM: 1) Get the information out there; 2) teach the basics of finance and business; 3) empower people to make decisions based on what they know; and 4) make sure everyone shares directly in the company's success, as well as its failure, with targets for net earnings and return on operating assets. With technological changes transforming business and the concurrent rise of intangible and human capital as the sources of wealth creation, OBM has begun to find its place in the business world.

In January 2001, Mary Linn, vice president of finance for Ocean Carriers, a shipping company with offices in New York and Hong Kong, was evaluating a proposed lease of a ship for a three-year period, beginning in early 2003. The customer was eager to finalize the contract to meet his own commitments and offered very attractive terms. No ship in Ocean Carrier's current fleet met the customer's requirements. Mary Linn, therefore, had to decide whether Ocean Carriers should immediately commission a new capsize carrier that would be completed two years hence and could be leased to the customer.

Huazhang is a joint venture between China Machine Press and Multi-Lingua Publishing International, Inc. of the United States. Since its establishment, Huazhang had developed from a company with three employees to more than 100 employees. The shareholders are interested in determining how well the company has been managed and the board decides the best way to do this would be to value the company. The board also wants to measure the general managers' future performance based on the increased value of the company. The issue for the newly-appointed general manager is to determine which of the many possible methods should be used to value the company, including the discounted cash flow model, and to perform sensitivity tests.

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An angel/venture capitalist could invest in an Internet sheet-music publishing start-up. The chance of success multiplied by the value, if successful, suggests that this isn't a good investment. Nevertheless, several friends suggest the optionality present in the venture: abort an unsuccessful Web site and sell the technology; switch the technology if the Web site is good, expand, buyout. Decision trees and Monte Carlo simulations are used to value these options, which make the opportunity look very attractive.

Discusses real estate valuation. Reviews "back of the envelope" valuation; real estate appraisal methods, including the income method; market comparables and replacement costs; and more complex computer modeling. Also discusses other variables that could influence valuation.

A major corporate investment decision faces CITIC Pacific Ltd. The company has to decide whether to purchase newly reclaimed land at the waterfront of Victoria Harbor, Hong Kong, and develop a grade A office building for investment purposes.

On March 3, 1999, the financial secretary of Hong Kong announced in his budget speech that the government planned to partially privatize the MTR Corp. through the sale and listing of a minority interest in the corporation's shares. The listing of this integrated rail operator on October 5, 2000, created an important precedent for future privatization of government assets. However, a host of uncertainties remained about how value enhancements are achieved in this privatization.

Phuket Beach Hotel has an opportunity to lease its underutilized space to a karaoke pub and earn a rental income. Alternatively, the hotel could develop the unused space and create its own pub. The general manager of the hotel must decide which of the two capital projects to recommend to the hotel owners. This case presents sufficient information to build cash flow forecasts for each project and to rank the mutually exclusive projects using various evaluation criteria.

Since the completion of its merger deal with Cable & Wireless HKT Ltd. in August 2000, Pacific Century CyberWorks Ltd. had been gripped by the full teeth of the bear. By early April 2001, the company had seen its share price plummet by nearly 90%. While many retail investors in Hong Kong were mourning their losses, some corporate insiders managed to find a clean exit route and were able to earn substantial profits. An interesting question to the general investors was: if they had followed the inside track, would they have been able to beat the market?

Dick Mayo, one of the most celebrated value investors in America was puzzled by the New Economy's continuous bias toward growth investment strategies. He examines the basics of his philosophy versus that of a growth orientation by evaluating the long-term expected returns of several value and growth stocks. This case can be used to pursue several objectives: (1) to define value and growth investing--where the differences lie and whether one approach is superior to the other or whether both have merit; and (2) to discuss issues related to consistency of one's investment philosophy. Should one stay true to one's philosophy even when the market seems to run counter to it for a prolonged period of time? Can value investing deliver value in this New Economy or is it only an Old Economy concept? The students are instructed to perform basic valuations of Cisco Systems (a growth company), CVS, R.R. Donnelley, and Manor Care (value companies) and compute their long-term expected returns. The case comes with an Excel spreadsheet containing the data and relevant valuation ratios for the above firms. The valuations are straightforward, but they tell an interesting story: the expected returns of glamorous stocks in reality may not be so glamorous.