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The American Bully XL, first introduced to the United Kingdom around 2014, had been held responsible for a disproportionate share of both dog-related attacks and deaths. The case discusses the announcement, in October 2023, that the dog breed would be added to a list of banned dogs under the Dangerous Dogs Act. The case allows for a discussion of how society regulates risks, particularly related to products or activities that might result in personal harm or harm to others. The case also provides international comparisons of animal regulation, and potential issues resulting from the ban.

Spreadsheet Supplement for Case W33861.

In February 2023, a prominent retail investor was contemplating selling his investment in Narayana Hrudayalya Limited, one of India's leading health care companies, when the stock price reached an all-time high of ₹800. The investor had initially bought the shares in 2017, when the price was ₹350 per share. On February 6, 2023, he came across an article about the company that discussed its future prospects, which prompted him to investigate the company's financials and other key aspects more closely. As he delved deeper into the company's financial details, the investor discovered various diverse opinions in various reports. To gain some clarity on the company's financial situation, he asked for the professional advice of his nephew, who was an investment analyst at a prominent stockbroker firm. The analyst knew the importance of conducting a thorough analysis of a company before offering an informed conclusion and investment recommendation to his uncle. He also saw his analysis as an opportunity to provide valuable insight to his own current and prospective clients.

The case describes the demise of Credit Suisse Group AG (Credit Suisse), along with Credit Suisse's history and its significance for global markets and Switzerland. The case examines key episodes during the past 15 years that point to risk-management lapses, weak corporate governance, and ineffective restructurings. The case also discusses Credit Suisse's financial performance, capital and liquidity metrics over time, and its CEOs' efforts to alter its course. Finally, the case describes the reaction of the Swiss regulators during the final hours, the forced merger of Credit Suisse with UBS Group AG (UBS), and the potential impact of a bankruptcy on global markets and Switzerland. Given Credit Suisse's status as one of 30 systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs) globally, its demise opens questions related to the efficacy of regulation after the global financial crisis (GFC), the role of regulators, and bank corporate governance. Ultimately, this case asks, "What are the lessons we can learn from Credit Suisse's demise?" in hopes that they won't be repeated.

<p align="justify">On May 5, 2023, Vicky Poirier received a call from Daniel Chen, vice-president of finance at Freeze Inc. After receiving an internal tip, Chen was calling to ask her to investigate a potential case of collusion involving one of his colleagues. As president of Quantum Juricomptable Inc. (Quantum), Poirier had to discuss the issues and challenges of this potential mandate with her team before deciding whether to accept it. Quantum’s investigation team, including forensic accountants, planned and performed an investigation to verify whether these allegations were true and prepared a forensic accounting report for a special committee at Freeze. The consequences of this report would be significant for the organization. How should the Freeze react to the report’s findings? What were the issues and challenges underlying any decision to dismiss the wrongdoers? Should Freeze dismiss them?<br><br>This case extends into a supplementary B-case, which introduces a new decision point (see product W33372).

This is the supplemental B-case for product W33370.

This technical note introduces convertible note financing for early-stage start-up companies. These unpriced securities offer significant advantages related to delayed valuation, greater speed, and lower cost of completion compared to venture capital financing. As a result, the number of early-stage companies raising capital through convertible notes over the past decade has greatly increased. The note discusses the most frequently used terms and arrangements of early-stage convertible notes, the estimation of noteholders' equity ownership from delayed valuation, and the costs and risks of this form of financing to both entrepreneurs and investors. It offers a number of numerical examples that walk students through calculations of convertible note payoffs under different success scenarios and different valuation caps. It also explores how convertible notes affect subsequent equity rounds' pricing. Finally, the note offers statistical data on the state of convertible note issuance. This note is a successor to an older note, ""Convertible Notes: A Form of Early-Stage Financing"" (UVA-F-1925). The cases ""Should udu a Convertible Note?"" (UVA-F-2025) and ""MedMetri

In early October 2022, the ASX-listed mineral exploration company Sheffield Resources announced its final investment decision to proceed with the Thunderbird mineral sands project, its only project under development. Olivia Montalbano's investment banking firm had decided to provide coverage of Sheffield's stock and asked her to determine a fair value estimate. The investor's bankable feasibility study (BFS) provided an estimate of $1.84 per share, but the stock price was only $0.47. What troubled Montalbano was that the BFS employed a real discount rate of 8%, which seemed low, given typical mining project risk. Montalbano's immediate task was to develop her own estimate of the project's cost of capital.

Yellow Corporation, one of the country's oldest and largest less-than-truckload (LTL) carriers, was nearing its 100th anniversary in 2024. Whether it would reach that milestone, however, was uncertain as the company was attempting to restructure its operations to become more competitive and refinance $1.3 billion of debt that was coming due in the next year. With just $100 million of cash on its balance sheet in June 2023, some kind of financial restructuring was needed to keep the company afloat. Unfortunately, the company's relationship with the Teamsters, the union that represented two-thirds of its 30,000 workers, was deteriorating rapidly. The situation became even worse after Yellow skipped a $50 million payment for worker benefits and pension obligations on July 15, prompting the Teamsters to threaten a strike at the end of the month. Having helped save the company from three "near death" experiences in the past 15 years, the union was in no mood to make further concessions. For Yellow CEO Darren Hawkins, the questions were whether and how he could convince union members to make further concessions, and what changes he needed to make to avoid bankruptcy one more time.

In January 2021, Sandeep Mathrani, Chief Executive Officer of the troubled real-estate firm WeWork, was evaluating a merger offer from the BowX Acquisition Corporation, a Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) founded by Vivek Ranadivé of TIBCO Software. WeWork's financial position remained precarious after a failed initial public offering in September 2019. The BowX transaction offered a different route for WeWork to become a publicly listed company and could potentially ameliorate its financing problems. However, the SPAC transaction posed risks and challenges. Should WeWork accept the offer from BowX? If yes, what safeguards should it negotiate to mitigate the risks?

In June 2020, the owner and director of UnityCars Pvt. Limited (UnityCars), a car rental company in Melbourne, Australia, was reviewing his fleet of vehicles and the company’s operation over the previous few months. The COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdowns had a negative and severe impact on UnityCars’ revenues. The company had expanded rapidly in previous years, becoming highly leveraged, which made it more vulnerable to negative shocks. A sharp reduction in revenues, high expenditures, and the combination of these with the uncertainty of the macro environment had posed a serious threat to the survival of UnityCars. The owner wanted to forecast the company’s operating cash flow and decide whether he should borrow or reorganize the fleet to meet his liquidity needs.

Spreadsheet Supplement for Exercise W34642.

A recent Master of Business Administration graduate from a renowned business school in India secured a position with a top rated asset management company. On the first day, his manager asks him to construct a portfolio using William Sharpe's single index model (SIM). To construct his model portfolio, he reviews the Bloomberg terminal for the data set. This exercise provides a step-by-step review of his analysis to construct a portfolio through SIM.

Instructor spreadsheet for product 9B08N023

This case helps individuals learn about different types of investment strategies. It presents three different people with varying risk tolerances and investment objectives and provides information about the investment strategies they adopt.

Tropical rain forest covers about 80% of the West African nation of Gabon, part of the Congo Basin and the "lungs of the world." Gabon is one of the first nations to earn revenue from carbon sequestration...as long as the rain forest remains intact. There are economic pressures for logging (and also the shared global threat of illegal logging). The federal government, along with private investors, is striving to both preserve the rain forest and also to create more jobs and capture more export value from the forest products industry as the nation transitions away from extractive industries including oil. The venture needs to bring almost all of the supply chain from logging camps to bark processing to plywood manufacture to international wholesaling in this series of public private partnerships. What are the conditions precedent for this to be feasible? What are the capital, policy, and operational decisions and inputs needed to execute this strategy successfully? What risks need to be borne by whom to get the supply chain in place and attract other capital sources? This is more than just a special economic zone with some tax and energy benefits. Among other tools, Gabon has adopted sophisticated techniques to geo-tag lumber from stump to ship, and to track the chain of custody for certified forest products. What other decisions need to be made and resources committed? Can this model grow to scale and be replicated with other agricultural or renewable value chains, in other nations? When?

This case explores the downfall of crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC), illustrating the critical role of operational due diligence (ODD). Established in 2012 by Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, 3AC's swift shift from forex to cryptocurrencies led to rapid success, marked by opulence and influence. However, in 2022, the fund collapsed due to mishandling, governance failures, and compliance missteps. Students assume the role of Vera-Maria, head of ODD at a fund of funds (FoF), tasked with investigating the 3AC collapse. The FoF, contemplating investments in crypto hedge funds, is wary of digital asset risks post-3AC's collapse. Vera-Maria aims to extract lessons and craft an ODD framework to mitigate risks in future digital asset investments. The case delves into the 3AC collapse's causes, offering students insights into institutional best practices. It equips them to navigate the digital asset space, and identify and mitigate counterparty risks, fostering a comprehensive understanding of ODD in the context of crypto hedge funds

The Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) had invited proposals for developing an Information Technology (IT) Park near the township of Panchkula in northern India. Sreeni Iyer, a partner at AMII Advisors, was considering a bid for this project in partnership with LIRA Developers, a public company. The fact that the Haryana state government had initiated this project suggested that regulatory approvals would not be a hurdle. However, the exit price and exit options needed to be carefully assessed by Iyer and his team.