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Spreadsheet Supplement for case UV8955

This case considers a simple buy-versus-rent decision in the context of an individual family home. In mid-2022, the rise in real estate prices in the Washington, DC, metro area has resulted in a dramatic increase in the rental rates for a young working couple. They must compare paying the higher rent with an opportunity to buy their friends' house on Ramsay Street. This decision elicits a discounted-cash-flow analysis that serves as an introduction to valuation based on equity residual cash flow. The mortgage financing required with the house purchase invites a discussion of leverage and its effect on the risk of their equity stake as well as the appropriate risk premium to be used in the discount rate. At the Darden School of Business, this case is used in the elective courses "Managerial Finance" and "Valuation in Financial Markets," as an introduction to equity-residual-cash-flow valuation and financial risk.

Braithwaite & Co. Limited (BCL) was a leading railway-engineering public sector company in India. The company was incorporated in 1930 as the first wagon manufacturing company in India. In 1976, the Government of India (GoI) nationalized the company, registering and incorporating it as a fully owned GoI undertaking to support Indian Railways by supplying railway wagons. However, following nationalization, BCL faced growth challenges and gradually accumulated significant losses during the 1990s; eventually, it was declared legally sick and referred to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR). The reasons identified for its sickness were failure to technologically upgrade and adapt to changing market scenarios, dependence on a single customer (Indian Railways), and operational-level issues within the organization. Yatish Kumar joined BCL in 2018 and took a series of strategic and operational measures to turn the company around. These measures resulted in BCL’s improved financial performance, profitability, and a quick turnaround, and the company was awarded Miniratna Category-I status in 2021. Although BCL had been growing at a good rate, Kumar was concerned about how to sustain the turnaround and maintain that growth rate in the future.

This technical note introduces the concept of equity cash flow or equity residual cash flow. The note provides an explicit comparison between free cash flow and equity residual cash flow in the context of an acquisition of a fictional veterinary practice. At the Darden School of Business, this note is used in the elective course "Valuation in Financial Markets" and as an introduction to valuation based on equity cash flow.

Business combinations under common control (BCUCC) are common restructuring arrangements carried out within groups of companies. However, an accounting policy choice exists. In the absence of an International Financial Reporting Standard (IFRS) on BCUCC, the receiving entity that acquired control of entities from its ultimate parent typically applies either the acquisition method or the predecessor method (also known as 'pooling of interests' in US GAAP or the 'book value' method). Accounting for such arrangements in IFRS reporting is subject to the judgement of the reporting entity and is an accounting policy choice. This case is noteworthy as Huaneng Power International Inc (HPI), one of Asia's largest listed power producers, a company incorporated in the People's Republic of China (PRC) and listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and the New York Stock Exchange, applied the acquisition method voluntarily in its IFRS reporting. For the PRC reporting, HPI used the predecessor method to account for the BCUCC according to the PRC GAAP requirements. This was an unusual accounting choice as most internationally-listed Chinese companies use the predecessor method for IFRS reporting, consistent with their reporting under PRC GAAP.

In 2022, the manager of Hyundai Nishat Motor (Private) Limited was ambitious to expand the company in Pakistan and continue its hard-earned growth. His first step was determining whether the expansion plan was worth it. But how could he estimate the cost of equity of a privately held firm? Although the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) and dividend discount model (DDM) were most commonly used to calculate the cost of equity, neither of those models could be used with an unlisted company, which had no stock price and hence no stock returns and beta. Financial consultants thus advised the manager to research the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) and the cost of equity of Hyundai’s competitors in a comparable company analysis.

Spreadsheet supplement for case W34884

In 2022, the manager of Hyundai Nishat Motor (Private) Limited was ambitious to expand the company in Pakistan and continue its hard-earned growth. His first step was determining whether the expansion plan was worth it. But how could he estimate the cost of equity of a privately held firm? Although the capital asset pricing model (CAPM) and dividend discount model (DDM) were most commonly used to calculate the cost of equity, neither of those models could be used with an unlisted company, which had no stock price and hence no stock returns and beta. Financial consultants thus advised the manager to research the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) and the cost of equity of Hyundai's competitors in a comparable company analysis.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 224742.

The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic put theatre company AMC's already perilous financial situation under even further strain. The company's high levels of debt resulted in a monthly cash-burn which left it facing an imminent Chapter-11 filing in the absence of significant capital raises. This case raises practical and ethical questions about the measures taken by management to stave off bankruptcy, including at-the-market equity issues and preferred share issues. Should a management team issue equity if market prices seem overvalued, as was the case when AMC was characterized as a meme stock? If common shareholders do not approve an increase in shares outstanding, can managers issue preferred shares if permitted by the corporate charter? Should insiders sell their own shares while issuing shares to the public?

Spreadsheet supplement for case 224044.

Spreadsheet to accompany product W36251.

An investment proposal reached the offices of Brookfield Renewable Partners (BRP) that outlined an opportunity for BRP to invest $300 million in Entropy Inc., a carbon capture and storage (CCS) company based in Calgary, Alberta. A subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management, BRP specialized in clean power investments and invested with clear environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria and company culture principles. As the investment team reviewed the materials, two key questions were at the top of mind. First, did Entropy’s business model align with BRP’s ESG investment criteria? Second, would the investment generate sufficient financial returns, and how would changes to Canada’s carbon pricing regulation impact the viability of CCS?

A year had passed since implementing digitalization of the direct lending process at Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), and the committee gathered on January 2, 2023, to reflect on its success and identify any issues. During the meeting, the team discovered that some businesses faced issues with loan sanctioning due to the need for relaxation of certain policies. Because the system-driven processes were based on standard procedures, the committee faced a dilemma in how to handle these relaxations. Although the system was automated, there were still certain areas that required manual interventions. As a result, the team deliberated whether SIDBI should move toward hyperautomation.

This exercise presents common size financial information, from which students identify seven anonymized major US companies in the following business areas: railway services, meat product processor, telecommunications service provider, technology consulting provider, aerospace engineering, natural resources mining, and retail drug and convenience store. Students identify the companies using their skills in interpreting financial statement data.

By 2023, Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in Santa Clara, California, had been successfully providing financial services to venture capitalists and private equity firms for 40 years. The bank, which catered to clients from the innovation and technology sectors, ran into problems and was taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) on March 10, 2023, becoming the second largest US bank to fail after Washington Mutual collapsed in 2008. The US Federal Reserve System (FRS), while being criticized for having lax standards that contributed to the catastrophe, maintained that it had provided several warnings. The United States Senate Banking Committee planned to organize a formal congressional hearing to investigate the nature of SVB’s failures and flaws and to question the FRS and evaluate the regulator’s response to the same. Everyone involved was shocked by the collapse of a large bank like SVB. Was it an erroneous business model that concentrated on sector-specific clients that had led to SVB’s downfall? Or was the failure due to lax banking rules? Could a poor regulatory environment be held responsible? Another possibility was that SVB’s weak risk management oversights and controls could be blamed. What could SVB have done to avoid the disaster? What lessons could the banking sector learn to avoid such collapses in the future?

On July 15, 2022, the senior marketing manager of Prabhu Murthy Industries Limited participated in a high-priority meeting attended by all of the company’s executives to discuss a pressing issue. The company’s unstable financial position and disappointing results had tarnished its reputation among investors. The company had to quickly raise funds by promoting itself as a favourable investment option for the public and investors, and the senior marketing manager was entrusted with developing an advertisement that would fulfill this purpose. As he contemplated the challenging week ahead, the senior marketing manager grappled with determining the most effective course of action to achieve the company’s objective. How would he convey the right advertising concept to effectively inspire confidence in investors and stakeholders? His contemplation would also underscore the importance of ethical communication in the financial services industry.

Spreadsheet supplement for case W36251.