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Set in January 1994, this case concerns a discussion between a money manager and her assistant about approaches for analyzing an offering of convertible bonds by Boston Chicken. The analysis compares the insights available from standard descriptive ratios with those available from valuation analysis. The case is intended to be a student's first exercise in analyzing convertible bonds, and it assumes some familiarity with option-pricing theory and bond valuation. The format of the case (clear tasks and conversational style) is intended to disarm the novice. Nevertheless, the case raises many important and interesting points that will easily fill a class period.

Spreadsheet Supplement for case 297011

The financial vice president must decide the value and form of an acquisition offer to be made to a small hand tool company.

Management of a small hand tool company must decide on the terms and conditions of its sale to a "friendly" acquirer.

Spreadsheet Supplement for case 296004

The president of Kitchen Helper Inc. is seeking financing for his new invention. Commercial banks have refused to provide any further financing, and the president has rejected offers from venture capitalists. A private investor has expressed interest but wishes to see a cash budget and a pro forma income statement and balance sheet.

On Wednesday, February 2, 1994, Ted Rogers, president and CEO of Rogers Communications (RCI), announced that a strategic merger was being sought with Maclean Hunter Limited (MHL). Over the course of the last several weeks, a private company controlled by Mr. Rogers had purchased a block of stock representing approximately 8 percent of the shares held by the public. The focus of the case is to formulate a presentation to RCI's board of directors, which discusses the price, strategy and terms of a planned offer to acquire all remaining MHL shares.

Spreadsheet Supplement for case 297015

A major paper company is considering acquiring the assets of a company that is threatened by a hostile takeover. The acquisition can be evaluated in terms of industry attractiveness, comparative advantage, and cash-flow analysis.

Spreadsheet Supplement for case 296084

The focus of the case is on deal-making in the context of a structured note. The challenge for the student is the placement of US$125 million of Special Purpose Trust (SPT) paper. The financing was to fund SPT's forward purchase of a portion of the future oil production. The structure of the note has to be modified in order to place the paper in a short period of time.

The owners of Xantrex Technology Inc. are negotiating an injection of equity capital of $3 million. Students are asked to design a deal which is acceptable to both the venture capitalists and the owners. They must also design an appropriate shareholders' agreement. This case should be used in conjunction with Xantrex Technology Inc., case 9A96B051.

This case explains the plan of the Equitable Companies to sell a 20 percent interest in Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ) via an equity carve-out in an initial public offering (IPO), and presents students the task of pricing DLJ's shares in the IPO. The company approached the pricing task using the method of comparable multiples. The case gives ample information on valuation multiples of peer firms. A key point of assessment is to choose which industry segment DLJ competes in so that an appropriate multiple may be chosen. The case also describes the equity-underwriting process in detail. It presents a rich range of industry information, affording an opportunity to discuss forces of change in the investment-banking industry. The teaching note explains how the case may be used to explore the trade-off between maximizing the offering price and supporting the trading of shares in the aftermarket. This case is an abridgement of the A (F-1145) and B (F-1146) cases, which may be taught alone or together. Taught together, they would ordinarily require two class periods. The instructor may cover the general subject matter of the A and B cases by using this abridged version.

In his review of Phillip L. Zweig's Wriston: Walter Wriston, Citibank, and the Rise and Fall of American Financial Supremacy, James Grant puts the career of Citibank's longtime CEO into historical perspective. At the end of the last century, credit was a virtue to be cultivated. But by the time Walter Wriston became Citibank's president in 1967, banking had changed. The Federal Reserve Act had given the United States a central bank, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. protected depositors' savings. In Wriston's time, credit, far from being delicate, often appeared to be indestructible. Grant, who edits the respected Grant's Interest Rate Observer, argues that credit is no longer an absolute virtue, like honesty, but an economic asset, like property, plant, or equipment.

Manatep Bank, a Russian investment bank, has just announced the country's first hostile tender offer for Red October, a confectionery company located in Moscow. As the chief financial officer of the target company, Yuri Yegorov must decide how to respond, how much his company is worth, and what to recommend to the board of directors. The context of the case, the nascent Russian financial system, raises a variety of interesting and complex valuation issues such as determining discount rates in countries with high inflation and unstable governments, uncertain property rights, and poor financial information. The absence of financial and institutional infrastructure provides a stark contrast to financial markets and takeovers in more developed countries.

The purpose of this note is to explain the concept of economic value added (EVA) and to show how EVA can be employed as a tool to assess managerial performance and assist in making strategic decisions.

Spreadsheet Supplement for case 296084.

The focus of this note is to present a risk management framework for current and potential corporate end users of derivatives products in the mid-1990s. Several high profile cases of derivatives problems are presented in the context of the framework. The note also examines where the process has failed and how the failures could have been prevented.

Northeast Ventures, a venture capital fund focusing on the development of northeastern Minnesota, seeks to combine social goals with financial returns. This marriage poses several challenges.

The vice president, finance of a firm notes that although performance of the firm as measured by traditional accounting measures has steadily improved, share price has been decreasing. She attempts to employ the concept of economic value added to get to the bottom of the puzzle.