Publications

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June 2001
Case

ESL Golf (B)

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and Christopher R Gordon

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Auctions; Bids and Bidding; Private Equity; Valuation

2009
Simulation

Finance Simulation: Blackstone/Celanese (Facilitator's Guide)

By: Nabil N. El-Hage, Timothy A. Luehrman and Heide Diener Abelli

Keywords: Bids and Bidding; Finance; Mergers and Acquisitions; Valuation; Leveraged Buyouts; Negotiation

October 1991 (Revised November 1996)
Case

Gordon Cain and the Sterling Group (A)

By: Michael C. Jensen

A Houston-based LBO firm makes two petrochemical acquisitions that benefit from improved industry conditions and improved organizational performance. The LBOs generate huge increases in value, creating problems for managers, who have large, undiversified equity... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Value Creation; Business Exit or Shutdown; Leveraged Buyouts; Chemical Industry; Houston

March 1992 (Revised December 1992)
Case

Harley-Davidson, Inc.--1987

By: W. Carl Kester and Julia Morley

After an LBO and near bankruptcy in the early 1980s, Harley-Davidson makes an astonishing recovery, going public in 1986. Its listing on the New York Stock Exchange in 1987 provides the occasion of an equity analyst to publish a research report in which she must issue... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Currency Exchange Rate; Reports; Crisis Management; Going Public; Research; Competition; Auto Industry; Japan; New York (city, NY)

February 2017 (Revised February 2018)
Case

Frank Baker: Siris Capital Group and Titan Systems

By: Steven Rogers and Derrick Collins

Private equity firm, Siris Capital Group, must decide if they should raise their offer to take Titan Telecom private by acquiring its publicly traded stock. Siris’ decision to pay a premium for Titan must be made in the context of their unique (and somewhat complex)... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Leveraged Buyouts; Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity; Mobile Technology; Financial Services Industry; Communications Industry; Telecommunications Industry; United States

June 1996
Case

Pathfinder Capital

By: William A. Sahlman and Andrew S. Janower

Two former consultants have raised a search fund and are looking for a company to buy and run. After eight months of looking at deals, they have just signed a letter of intent to buy the second largest book retail chain in Canada in a turnaround situation. They must... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Leveraged Buyouts; Financing and Loans; Venture Capital; Change; Decisions

November 2005 (Revised October 2012)
Case

The Auction for Burger King (A)

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and James Quinn

Paul Walsh, CEO of Diageo, must evaluate bids received in an auction of the Burger King restaurant unit. Describes how Diageo came to own Burger King, the attempts to turn the unit around, the strategic reasons for its sale, the auction process, and various bidders'... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Leveraged Buyouts; Bids and Bidding; Valuation; Auctions; Decision Choices and Conditions; Negotiation Tactics; Service Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

01 Oct 2001
News

David B. Price, Jr.: Aiming High

everything from electronics and sporting goods to food and drugs. Recently, with Goodrich focusing increasingly on the aerospace industry, Price oversaw the leveraged buyout of his division and bid farewell... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management

01 Aug 2001
News

William F. Connell (MBA '63)

group, Connell gained 85 percent ownership of the industrial companies with a leveraged buyout that created the Connell Limited Partnership. Last year, the four firms remaining in the Partnership accounted... View Details

Keywords: Alumni Achievement Award; William F. Connell (MBA 1963); James O.Dunn; Manufacturing

01 Oct 2002
News

Karen Gordon Mills

under its belt, the firm is now looking into the natural and organic food sector. “We're aiming to complete two or three deals annually,” notes Mills, who honed her expertise as a former managing director and COO for E.S. Jacobs & Co., a View Details

March 1993
Case

Clarion Optical Co.

By: Michael J. Roberts and Howard H. Stevenson

Focuses on two individuals' attempts to purchase Clarion Optical Co. Forces students to consider alternative proposals for financing the purchase; generate pro forma cash flows to assess the feasibility of these proposals; estimate the sources and magnitude of... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Financing and Loans; Investment Return; Cash Flow; Forecasting and Prediction

May 2008 (Revised June 2009)
Case

Finansbank 2006

By: C. Fritz Foley and Linnea Meyer

How do financial policy requirements and benefits of ownership concentration affect the need for and process of corporate restructuring? This case provides students with an opportunity to analyze the restructuring of a Turkish multinational business group by way of a... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Mergers and Acquisitions; Restructuring; Capital Budgeting; Agreements and Arrangements; Valuation; Turkey; Greece

29 Oct 2019
Blog Post

Merging the Worlds of Finance, Investing, and Environmental Impact

grow companies. Earlier this year we launched our buyout fund focused on scaling mature companies in the sector, which I now co-lead. Can you give me an example of a deal you’ve worked on recently? We’re just closing on our first deal... View Details

15 Apr 2014
First Look

First Look: April 15

Publications August 2013 American Economic Review Private Equity, Jobs, and Productivity By: Davis, Steven J., John Haltiwanger, Kyle Handley, Ron Jarmin, Josh Lerner, and Javier Miranda Abstract—Private equity critics claim that View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2021
Supplement

Exercise for Revlon: Surviving Covid-19

By: Kristin Mugford and Sarah Gulick

Exercise for Revlon: Surviving Covid-19 View Details

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

21 Nov 2006
First Look

First Look: November 21, 2006

Working PapersThe Performance of Reverse Leveraged Buyouts Authors:Jerry Cao and Josh Lerner Abstract Reverse leveraged buyouts (RLBOs) have... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2002 (Revised June 2003)
Case

Vignette: The Rebar Dilemma

By: G. Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

Martin Smith, a new associate at an LBO firm, must respond to a problem posed by his boss, based on an historical deal that suddenly came undone. After months of negotiation, his firm's plan to buy a bankrupt competitor of one of its portfolio companies and close it... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Competition; Growth and Development Strategy; Business or Company Management

December 1990 (Revised February 2000)
Supplement

Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners, Video

By: Michael C. Jensen and Brian Barry

Edward Burkhardt, president and CEO of Wisconsin Central, and Carl Freebback, general partner of Berkshire Partners, engage in a question and answer session with the students. View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Governing and Advisory Boards; Leveraged Buyouts; Financial Condition; Financing and Loans; Corporate Finance; Rail Industry

April 1991 (Revised July 1991)
Supplement

RJR Nabisco Board: Guardians of the Gate? (B)

By: Jay W. Lorsch

The special committee of the RJR Nabisco board has extended the bidding deadline for the company by 10 days. The case explains the process by which Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and the management group bid against one another for ownership of RJR Nabisco. The board of... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Situation or Environment; Bids and Bidding; Decision Making; Managerial Roles; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Teams; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry