Publications

October 2010 (Revised January 2011)
Case

Charter Communications Bankruptcy

By: Paul A. Gompers and Emily Weisburst

Charter Communications' bankruptcy presents an opportunity for some of its creditors to convert their debt holdings into equity. A mutual fund manager must determine how to maximize his debt investment in Charter given the restructuring and decide whether to... View Details

Keywords: Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Private Equity; Borrowing and Debt; Investment; Financial Strategy; Financial Services Industry

September 2010 (Revised August 2011)
Case

Enman Oil, Inc. (A)

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: Financial Statements; Borrowing and Debt; Equity; Financial Condition; Financing and Loans; United States

15 Nov 2017
HBS Seminar

William Mann, UCLA Anderson

February 2003
Exercise

Restructuring the U.S. Steel Industry: Spreadsheet Exercise

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

Description of an EXCEL spreadsheet exercise to test the impact of changes in wage rates on the value of debt and equity securities. View Details

Keywords: Equity; Debt Securities; Valuation; Wages; Restructuring; Steel Industry

17 Dec 2020
Video

Eva Arias

Eva Arias, President of Compañía Minera Poderosa, describes how she solved the debt crisis her company faced in the 1990s by engaging with a debt restructuring plan, regaining the trust of her creditors and suppliers, and reorganizing the mine’s operations. View Details

Jonathan L. Wallen

Jonathan Wallen is an Assistant Professor of Finance in the Finance Unit and teaches Finance 1 to MBA students.

Professor Wallen’s research centers on financial intermediation and its intersection with asset pricing, currency markets,... View Details

Research Summary

Sovereigns, Upstream Capital Flows and Global Imbalances

By: Laura Alfaro

We construct measures of net private and public capital flows for a large cross-section of developing countries considering both creditor and debtor side of the international debt transactions. Using these measures, we demonstrate that sovereign-to-sovereign... View Details

September 2018 (Revised March 2019)
Case

National Australia Bank: Looking Out for the Customer

By: Mark R. Kramer and Hugh Foley

After learning that most defaults were due to health, job or marital problems, National Australia Bank revised its debt collection department to shift from penalizing people in default to assisting them in developing a work-out plan, enabling more than 90% to meet... View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Borrowing and Debt; Customer Focus and Relationships; Success; Australia

2024
Working Paper

Corporate Debt, Boom-Bust Cycles, and Financial Crises

By: Victoria Ivashina, Sebnem Kalemli-Özcan, Luc Laeven and Karsten Müller

Using a new dataset on sectoral credit exposures covering financial and non-financial sectors in 115 economies over the period 1940–2014, we document the following evidence that corporate debt plays a key role in explaining boom-bust cycles, financial crises, and slow... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Economic Growth; Economic Sectors; Borrowing and Debt; Credit

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April 1986 (Revised May 1996)
Background Note

Note on Option Pricing

Develops a simple option pricing model which provides an insight into the foundations of the Black and Scholes model. The Black and Scholes model is next introduced and its relationship to the simple option pricing model discussed. Last, the problem of pricing debt... View Details

Keywords: Price; Capital Markets

January 2004 (Revised March 2005)
Background Note

Bond Ratings

By: David F. Hawkins

Describes the considerations entering into a long-term debt rating. View Details

Keywords: Bonds

February 2003
Supplement

Steel Cash

By: William E. Fruhan Jr. and Katherine A. Codega

Spreadsheet to (9-203-042). Test the impact of changes in wage rates on the value of debt and equity securities. Download only. View Details

Keywords: Change; Equity; Debt Securities; Wages

2005
Working Paper

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; Taxation; Risk and Uncertainty; Inflation and Deflation; System Shocks; Developing Countries and Economies; Mathematical Methods

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14 Oct 2014
First Look

First Look: October 14

money demand could explain up to approximately half the growth of ABCP in the mid-2000s. Publisher's link: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/money_20140929_6871f5d1-2375-4716-a7c5-8b94d7541b54.pdf Working Papers Government View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Research Summary

Nominal versus Indexed Debt: A Quantitative Horse Race (joint with Fabio Kanczuk)

By: Laura Alfaro

There are different arguments in favor and against nominal and indexed debt which broadly include the incentive to default through inflation versus hedging against unforeseen shocks. We model these arguments and calibrate the model to assess the quantitative importance... View Details

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

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; Financial Services Industry; United States