Publications

March 2021 (Revised January 2022)
Case

Revlon: Surviving Covid-19

By: Kristin Mugford and Sarah Gulick

In October 2020, Revlon faced a crossroads. While it had been struggling with high levels of debt before COVID-19, the pandemic had caused it to go further into debt. Unlike other financial crises, many consumers had stopped buying skincare or cosmetics, and sales of... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Leveraged Buyouts; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Liquidity; Bonds; Corporate Finance; Borrowing and Debt; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; United States

Research Summary

Overview

By: Anywhere Sikochi

Having grown up in a developing country, Professor Sikochi’s research focus is driven by a desire to understand how capital flows to firms and entrepreneurs with the ultimate goal to help build capital markets in the developing economies. To this end, he conducts... View Details

April 1973 (Revised February 1986)
Case

Harrington Corp.

Four individuals purchase a small company, making heavy use of debt financing. View Details

Keywords: Small Business; Borrowing and Debt

September 2010 (Revised December 2010)
Supplement

Enman Oil, Inc. (D)

By: David F. Hawkins

Company pursues ways to reduce its debt to equity ratio by resorting to off balance sheet debt transactions. View Details

Keywords: Energy Sources; Capital Structure; Financial Statements; Energy Industry; Mining Industry; United States

September 2010 (Revised December 2010)
Supplement

Enman Oil, Inc. (B)

By: David F. Hawkins

Company pursues ways to reduce its debt to equity ratio by resorting to off balance sheet debt transactions. View Details

Keywords: Energy Sources; Capital Structure; Financial Statements; Energy Industry; Mining Industry; United States

June 2013
Article

Are There Too Many Safe Securities? Securitization and the Incentives for Information Production

By: Samuel G. Hanson and Adi Sunderam

We present a model that helps explain several past collapses of securitization markets. Originators issue too many informationally insensitive securities in good times, blunting investor incentives to become informed. The resulting endogenous scarcity of informed... View Details

Keywords: Information; Debt Securities; Financial Crisis

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20 Feb 2013
Research & Ideas

Big Deal: Reflections on the Megamerger of American and US Airways

concern. While operating in Chapter 11, the company pays no interest on its pre-petition debts, freeing up cash that can be reinvested in the business. Moreover, any new money that the company borrows during bankruptcy must be repaid... View Details

Keywords: Re: Rosabeth M. Kanter & Stuart C. Gilson; Air Transportation

December 2006 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Prosper Marketplace, Inc.

By: William A. Sahlman and Elizabeth Kind

Describes a set of financial and strategic decisions confronting the founding management team of a new online financial services company. Prosper Marketplace is an internet-based market for individuals to borrow money from other individuals who wish to invest in such... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Financial Strategy; Innovation and Invention; Management Teams; Financial Services Industry

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July 1994 (Revised October 1995)
Case

Coca-Cola Harmless Warrants

By: Scott P. Mason and Mihir A. Desai

Underscores the arbitrage implicit in the pricing of a complex unit of debt and warrants issued by the Coca-Cola Co. View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Price; Innovation and Invention; Food and Beverage Industry

2000
Chapter

Leveraged Management Buyouts at KKR: Historical Perspectives on Patient Equity, Debt, Discipline, and LBO Governance.

By: George P. Baker and George Smith

Keywords: Governance; History; Leveraged Buyouts; Executive Compensation; Borrowing and Debt

06 Dec 2011
Op-Ed

Greater Fiscal Integration Best Solution for Euro Crisis

unelected, "technocratic" national emergency governments. If after Greece, Portugal and Ireland, Italy were to fall into the debt spiral, it might be the domino piece that could bring down the... View Details

Keywords: by Dante Roscini

September 2017 (Revised February 2019)
Case

Blackstone's GSO Capital: Crosstex Investment

By: Victoria Ivashina, John D. Dionne and Jeffrey Boyar

This case focuses on the Blackstone credit arm, GSO Capital as it evaluated a proposal for an equity investment into the distressed company, Crosstex Energy L.P., an integrated midstream energy company, that was hit hard by declining natural gas prices during the 2008... View Details

Keywords: Distress Investing; Rescue Financing; Investment; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Condition

December 2010
Article

Nominal versus Indexed Debt: A Quantitative Horse Race

By: Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk

The main arguments in favor of and against nominal and indexed debt are the incentive to default through inflation versus hedging against unforeseen shocks. We model and calibrate these arguments to assess their quantitative importance. We use a dynamic equilibrium... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Motivation and Incentives; Inflation and Deflation; System Shocks; Taxation; Risk and Uncertainty; Framework; Problems and Challenges; Interest Rates; Cost; Developing Countries and Economies; Service Operations

May 1986 (Revised February 1991)
Case

Wilson Lumber Co.

By: Thomas R. Piper

The Wilson Lumber Co. is faced with a need for increased bank financing due to its rapid sales growth and low profitability. Students must determine the reasons for the rising bank borrowing, estimate the amount of borrowing needed, and assess the attractiveness of the... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Financing and Loans; Banks and Banking; Forecasting and Prediction; Sales; Financial Strategy

May 1991 (Revised December 1994)
Case

State of Connecticut Municipal Swap

By: Andre F. Perold

The state of Connecticut wants to raise $325 million of long-term fixed-rate debt. One alternative is to do this synthetically--issue long-term variable rate debt and enter into an interest rate swap. The case is a vehicle for analyzing various floating rate structures... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Interest Rates; Taxation; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Risk and Uncertainty; New England

07 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 7, 2009

the original proofs of Ehlers and Klaus (2003) using his stronger independence condition, here we offer a short proof that uses the established result of Theorem 1 for the restricted domain R0. Download the working paper:... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

April–May 2024
Article

Gone with the Big Data: Institutional Lender Demand for Private Information

By: Jung Koo Kang

I explore whether big-data sources can crowd out the value of private information acquired through lending relationships. Institutional lenders have been shown to exploit their access to borrowers’ private information by trading on it in financial markets. As a shock... View Details

Keywords: Analytics and Data Science; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Markets; Value; Knowledge Dissemination; Financing and Loans

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July 2005 (Revised December 2005)
Case

General Motors U.S. Pension Funds

By: Luis M. Viceira and Helen Tung

In June 2003, General Motors Corp. (GM) successfully marketed the largest corporate debt offering in U.S. history, worth $17.6 billion. The offering included $13.6 billion worth of debt denominated in dollars, euros, and pounds and $4 billion dollars denominated in... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Bonds; Investment Return; Policy; Borrowing and Debt; Corporate Finance; Auto Industry; United States

June 1991
Case

Continental Carriers, Inc.

By: W. Carl Kester

A U.S. trucking company is considering using debt for the first time to acquire another company. The directors of the company are divided in their opinion of the likely impact of leverage on Continental Carriers' performance. Their differences must be reconciled and a... View Details

Keywords: Debt Securities; Financing and Loans; Acquisition; Borrowing and Debt; Equity; Transportation Industry; United States