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Student spreadsheet for case 218078.

Malaysia headquartered Genting Berhad has been assigned highest credit rating among global gaming companies. This remarkable gaming focussed conglomerate adopted what in 1965 was a unique strategy to develop a portfolio of stable and recurring cash flow generating integrated resorts. This strategy was to establish flagship IRs in regulated markets such as Malaysia (where Genting is a monopoly) and Singapore (where the company operates in a duopolistic market) before diversifying into competitive markets like the U.S. and U.K. This strategy has enabled Genting Berhad to achieve a net cash position despite operating in a cyclical and capital intensive industry. Using Genting Berhad as an example, this case study delineates the concepts of credit ratings in general, credit ratings of corporates in particular, and industry specific credit rating methodology. The case study prompts users to adopt a systematic approach to fundamental and counterparty analysis by assessing the impact of the macro economy, industry environment, and company specific attributes in evaluating a company's debt servicing ability.

This courseware was created to allow students to model E-Leather's enterprise value (EV) in early 2014. Yellow cells in the Enterprise Value (EV) worksheets indicate where students provide inputs. The other worksheets provide information to help students make decisions about their inputs.

Spreadsheet supplement for cases 218006 and 218052.

Yash Building Centre, based in Raipur, central India, was in the business of manufacturing fly ash bricks and blocks. At the beginning of 2016, after achieving decent growth and gaining goodwill among local builders and contractors, the managing partner was actively looking to expand business operations into tiles, pavers, and curbstones. He believed this expansion would improve the firm's profitability by allowing it to take full advantage of its reputation among existing customers. It would also enable the firm to increase its size. A key question was, would this decision facilitate value creation for the firm? To make the investment decision, the managing partner needed to consider the return on investment and the capacity at which the new unit would break even.

Student spreadsheet for case W18130.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 318003.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 218064.

Student spreadsheet for case W16567.

In 2015, activist hedge fund Sachem Head Capital, led by founder Scott Ferguson, launched an activist campaign at (computer aided design) CAD software maker Autodesk. The activist campaign, waged mainly in private, was over Autodesk's lacklustre financial performance, with Ferguson thinking that Autodesk's performance could improve with better cost management. Facing a proxy contest, Autodesk added Ferguson and two others to its board in exchange for a standstill agreement. Following two years of significantly improved performance, Ferguson eventually stepped down when longtime Autodesk CEO Carl Bass announced his retirement in February 2017. The case illustrates how even companies with stellar products can underperform and how benchmarking and financial analysis can help identify drivers of firm performance. The case describes how boards and investors can engage to improve governance and ultimately achieve sustainable performance objectives.

This case examines the rise and competitive positioning of Lufax, an online marketplace headquartered in Shanghai, China, and a pioneer in the origination and trading of financial assets. The company had grown at a remarkable rate, and was awarded "Trading Platform of the Year" for 2017 by the Asian Banker Financial Markets Awards Programme. Case protagonist Gregory Gibb, Chairman & CEO of Lufax, must decide how to navigate the challenging regulatory and competitive landscape, in order to achieve Lufax's goal of transforming and expanding the wealth management industry in China. Whether the technology giants (e.g. Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent, often collectively known as "BAT") would be able to develop strong capabilities in the "Fin" part of "FinTech," and whether traditional financial institutions would become technologically sophisticated enough for their "Tech" capabilities to materialize, were among some of the key uncertainties and potential challenges that Lufax had to confront. There were also looming risks and lingering uncertainties on the political and regulatory front. The focal point of the case centers around how Gibb can strategize and position Lufax going forward, and leverage its unique "finance DNA" to try to win market share in the rapidly changing FinTech and wealth management sectors in mainland China.

In 2017, JANA Partners decided to launch an activist campaign at struggling supermarket chain Whole Foods Market. The company had struggled for the past several years, and JANA thought the presence of new directors could help turn around its operations, while Whole Foods resisted, adding new directors and announcing ambitious new financial targets. Facing continued pressure from JANA despite the new changes, Whole Foods accepted an acquisition offer from Amazon, ending the engagement with JANA.

Instructor Spreadsheet for 8B17N007.

Wellington Global Impact is one of the first public equities impact investing strategies in the market. The case explores how the strategy was developed at Wellington, including an analysis of the culture that supported its development. It also explores the difficulty in marketing the strategy as a first-mover and the effort to demonstrate that investments can have both positive financial and social returns. Protagonists Eric Rice and Patrick Kent must find ways to show that it is possible to drive impact through a public markets vehicle and show the rigorous financial, impact, and ESG analysis that went into building the strategy. Students will gain exposure to concepts around firm strategy, portfolio construction, risk management, marketing, and impact investing.

Founded in 1989, Olam International Limited began as a small trader of cashew nuts. Over the years, it grew into a multi-country, multi-product integrated agribusiness. In 2016, Olam was one of the 30 largest Singapore Exchange-listed companies by market capitalization and recorded annual turnover of US$14.2 billion. This case examines Olam's corporate strategy in three chronological phases: (i) 1989-2005 (organic growth); (ii) 2006-2012 (organic and inorganic growth); (iii) 2013-2016 (sustainable growth and generation of positive free cash flow). In November 2012, Olam temporarily put the brakes on its expansion drive following a short seller's attack. The third phase (2013-2016) saw Olam conducting a strategic review, re-calibrating its strategic plan, implementing restructuring initiatives, and working towards new goals and its new vision. During this period, Olam attracted capital from two strategic investors - Singapore's Temasek Holdings and Japan's Mitsubishi Corporation. Besides describing Olam's financing strategy, this case also summarizes Olam's major acquisitions, divestments, joint ventures and greenfield investments. This case may generate a discussion on the challenges that Olam would have to overcome in its quest to become the most differentiated and valuable global agribusiness.