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In 2016, India passed a new bankruptcy law (IBC) to counter a brewing bank crisis and increased corporate distress. Homebuilder Jaypee Infratech, one of India largest distressed companies (the "dirty dozen") began restructuring under the IBC in 2017. Two years later, the situation remains unresolved, the Supreme Court is involved, there are two interested bidders for the company, and a creditor group that includes Indian banks and local homebuyers. Should York Capital bid to purchase some of Jaypee's secured debt and at what price?

In April 2020, Rudra Industries and Services Private Ltd., a diesel generator product and service provider in Uttar Pradesh, the largest state in northern India, was facing a dilemma. Diesel generators (DGs) were heavily used by telecommunication companies to provide uninterrupted power supply to their towers, despite frequent power outages. However, consolidation in India's telecommunication industry had led to stagnation in the company's core business. To maintain a continuous flow of income, the company was considering a business expansion to leasing diesel generators to clients. The company was asked to prepare a bid proposal for leasing 100 DG sets to a local bank with numerous branches across the state. What factors would influence the pricing estimates in the bid? How should the company finance the purchase of generators that will be leased out to the client? How could the pricing estimate be calculated to ensure the project would be profitable? Should the company even consider entering the leasing sector, considering recent reductions in power outages and increasing diesel prices?

In May 2021, a recent graduate from the master of business administration program at Ivey Business School noticed a news article about one of his investments, the leading athletic apparel company Under Armour, Inc. The article stated that Under Armour, Inc. was fined US$9 Million by the US Security and Exchange Commission. The charges were a result of concerns over the company’s revenue reporting practices, but the company's share price dropped only very slightly following the announcement. The investor was considering his options regarding his investment. However, he was still curious and eager to learn more about the circumstances behind the US Security and Exchange Commission’s charge and potential consequences for the company. The investor decided to examine Under Armour, Inc.’s revenue reporting practices, financial reporting practices, and corporate governance issues.

Hertz filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in response to ABS obligations and the COVID-19 pandemic. Enthusiastic Robinhood investors and shrewd negotiating tactics helped Hertz stabilize. Roughly nine months into the bankruptcy, Hertz received several bids to reorganize the company. Now, key Hertz advisors William Derrough and Tom Lauria must decide (i) whether the valuations implied by these bids are high enough, (ii) how they can negotiate higher valuations, and (iii) when to exit bankruptcy.

On September 26, 2018, the Chinese hotpot chain Haidilao International Holding Ltd. launched an initial public offering, during a time of ongoing trade tensions between the United States and China, and started trading of the company’s shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The Beijing-based company sold 424.5 million shares at HK$17.8 (US$2.27) per share, which was on the high end of the indicative price range. Its price-to-earnings ratio of 30.2 was higher than that of its peers, which ranged from 16 to 27. In addition, the CSI 300 Index, which monitored the performance of 300 stocks on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, was down 27 per cent year-to-date at that time. Another key factor was that the company’s stock would likely be included on the Stock Connect program that enabled access from Mainland China to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Investors had an opportunity to value the company at the time of the initial public offering launch and analyze the information provided in the company’s prospectus. Based on their assessment, investors had to decide if the company’s stock was a good investment.

Instructor Spreadsheet to accompany product W24091.

Student Spreadsheet to accompany product W24090.

On September 6, 2018, a couple was enjoying a meal at a hotpot restaurant in Weifang, Shandong Province, China. The restaurant was a branch of the popular Chinese hotpot restaurant chain owned by Xiabuxiabu Catering Management (China) Holdings Co. Ltd. (Xiabu Xiabu). Halfway through the meal, the pregnant wife found a dead rat in her soup. The news spread on social media, and according to some analysts, Xiabu Xiabu’s share price dropped US$190 million in market value. Had Xiabu Xiabu’s lack of quality assurance undermined the company’s success? How could the company improve its risk and crisis management?

On September 26, 2018, the Chinese hotpot chain Haidilao International Holding Ltd. launched an initial public offering, during a time of ongoing trade tensions between the United States and China, and started trading of the company's shares on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The Beijing-based company sold 424.5 million shares at HK$17.8 (US$2.27) per share, which was on the high end of the indicative price range. Its price-to-earnings ratio of 30.2 was higher than that of its peers, which ranged from 16 to 27. In addition, the CSI 300 Index, which monitored the performance of 300 stocks on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, was down 27 per cent year-to-date at that time. Another key factor was that the company's stock would likely be included on the Stock Connect program that enabled access from Mainland China to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Investors had an opportunity to value the company at the time of the initial public offering launch and analyze the information provided in the company's prospectus. Based on their assessment, investors had to decide if the company's stock was a good investment.

Student Spreadsheet to accompany product W24090.

On September 6, 2018, a couple was enjoying a meal at a hotpot restaurant in Weifang, Shandong Province, China. The restaurant was a branch of the popular Chinese hotpot restaurant chain owned by Xiabuxiabu Catering Management (China) Holdings Co. Ltd. (Xiabu Xiabu). Halfway through the meal, the pregnant wife found a dead rat in her soup. The news spread on social media, and according to some analysts, Xiabu Xiabu's share price dropped US$190 million in market value. Had Xiabu Xiabu's lack of quality assurance undermined the company's success? How could the company improve its risk and crisis management?

Spreadsheet supplement for case A00424.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 222022.

Nicolas Dupont, the owner of Chateau de Montana, a struggling (and old) boutique hotel in Crans-Montana Ski Resort, Switzerland, wished to renovate and reposition his family-owned hotel to target higher room rates. Dupont commissioned Olga Mitireva and Yulia Belopilskaya as consultants to assess the proposition. The consultants had to extract cues for the room rate of the repositioned hotel from comparable hotels. However, the room rates varied significantly across similar hotels due to their differing characteristics and locations. It was a cognitive challenge to read the patterns from a few comparable hotels. They collected the data of 200 hotels from similar locations and simulated room prices using hedonic regression models.

Cliff Asness was facing a dilemma into how he would plunge his hedge fund into the hottest investment area worldwide - ESG Investing. Founder and managing principal of AQR - one the most storied quantitative hedge funds in the world - Asness knew anything less than a big splash was not an option. To this end, Asness was planning to launch a liquid equity long-short fund he hoped would appeal to ESG sensitive clients. Shorting was unheard of in the ESG space, but Asness knew that it could send a new, and powerful message, on carbon neutrality - and ESG weighting more broadly - that he hoped ESG investors were ready to send. He would soon find out just that...

BUA Group must decide between investments in cement, road building, power generation, or sugar. Private businesses are important to economic development in Africa. Students must assess the competitive nature of each of these industries, the magnitude of capital investments and recurring costs and revenues, and the skills required to lead in each of these sectors. Additional considerations include federal and government policy to either regulate or stimulate each of these industries, the competitive set, and the relative size and impact of risks and uncertainties in each industry.

In a historic agreement on 8 October 2021, 136 countries approved the OECD two-pillar solution in a major overhaul of the century-old international taxation system. At the G20 Summit in Rome on 30 October 2021, the leaders of the world's biggest economies endorsed the two-pillar solution, decades in the making but which will be implemented in 2023. The new agreement will overcome the tax challenges arising from the digital economy and will ensure that big businesses pay a fair share of taxes on profits from market jurisdictions where they operate. The case explores the two parts, placing a global minimum corporate tax rate of 15% on the profits of the world's largest businesses; and shifting tax revenues to market jurisdictions where large businesses have their customers and sell their products. Protagonist Janet Yellen, Secretary of the US Treasury, played an instrumental role in getting reluctant finance ministers on board. President Joe Biden supported the OECD plan in part because it will stop growing tensions between G20 countries over digital service taxes.

This short fictional case considers an investment decision in a new business concept, Carly's Car Clinic. The investment choice entails two similar stores with correlated outcomes and an option to sequence the opening of one after the other. Student analysis highlights the value of the optionality to delay the opening of one of the stores and then not make the subsequent investment if the outcome on the first one is poor. An instructor should anticipate about 30 to 40 minutes of a class session to discuss this case. At the Darden School, the case is taught in the second-year elective ""Managerial Finance,"" but it is suitable for any module covering more advanced topics in capital budgeting, such as optionality. The teaching note provides suggestions for how to pair the case.

On July 8, 2019, Barry Robinson, president and managing director of International Operations for Wyndham Destinations Asia Pacific (Wyndham Destinations AP), and Liam Crawley, chief financial officer, were in receipt of a report provided by law firm Baker McKenzie’s Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions team. Wyndham Destinations AP was in the process of acquiring the privately held Resort Frontier Co. Ltd., the management company for Sundance Resort Club. Through an affiliated corporate entity, Wyndham Destinations AP would also acquire all the forfeited and unsold points of Sundance Resort Club. This acquisition would represent the vacation ownership and exchange company’s first foray into the Japanese market. Crawley and his team would need to undertake comprehensive external and internal financial analyses and discounted cash flow analysis of Sundance and multiples valuations of comparable firms to help Robinson determine a fair offer price.

Instructor Spreadsheet to accompany W25640.