Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(417)
- Faculty Publications (82)
- January 2018 (Revised April 2021)
- Case
Capital Allocation at HCA
By: W. Carl Kester and Emily R. McComb
In early 2017, HCA Holdings, an investor-owned hospital management company, faced a strategically important capital allocation decision. After the exit of its private equity sponsors in 2016, HCA had to determine how best to allocate its substantial annual free cash... View Details
Keywords: Capital Allocation; Cash Distribution Policy; Dividends; Share Repurchases; Growth Strategy And Execution; Growth Investing; Capital Expenditures; Debt Management; Debt Reduction; Debt Policy; Hospital Management; Investor-owned Hospital Chains; Capital Budgeting; Capital Structure; Cash Flow; Corporate Finance; Decision Choices and Conditions; Health Industry; United States
- January 2018
- Case
Blue Harbour's Activism at Babcock & Wilcox
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Quinn Pitcher
The case describes Blue Harbour Group's investment in Babcock & Wilcox and its transformation into BWX Technologies. In 2004, activist hedge fund Blue Harbour Group invested in Babcock & Wilcox, an energy and construction company. Blue Harbour developed an investment... View Details
- January 2018
- Supplement
Blue Harbour's Activism at Babcock & Wilcox (B)
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Quinn Pitcher
Follow-up case detailing the changes and performance upswing at BWX Technologies after hedge fund Blue Harbour Group's investment and when the fund’s Managing Director Robb LeMasters (MBA’05) joined its board of directors. View Details
- October 2017
- Case
Quantopian: A New Model for Active Management
- September 2017 (Revised July 2021)
- Case
Asset Allocation at the Cook County Pension Fund
By: Emil Siriwardane, Juliane Begenau and Yuval Gonczarowski
Nickol Hackett, chief investment officer of the Cook County Pension Fund, is responsible for investing the fund’s $9 billion worth of assets on behalf of the employees of Cook County, Illinois. Like many other defined-benefit pensions at the time, the Cook County... View Details
- June 2017 (Revised November 2020)
- Teaching Note
Tableau
By: Boris Vallee and Botir Kobilov
Teaching Note for HBS No. 216-045. View Details
- June 2016 (Revised May 2017)
- Case
FANUC Corporation: Reassessing the Firm's Governance and Financial Policies
By: Benjamin C. Esty, Nobuo Sato and Akiko Kanno
In February 2015, Daniel Loeb (a U.S.–based activist investor) announced his firm had a large investment in FANUC Corporation, a leading producer of industrial robots and software for machine tools. Loeb was demanding that the Japanese firm change its financial and... View Details
Keywords: Hedge Funds; Economic Policy; Investments; Government Policy; Deregulation; Financial Management; Valuation; Investment Funds; Policy; Corporate Governance; Macroeconomics; Investment Activism; Change Management; Financial Strategy; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Japan; United States
- March 2016 (Revised November 2020)
- Case
Tableau
By: Boris Vallee
Matrix Capital Management, a long-short equity hedge fund based in Waltham, Massachusetts, is assessing its investment in Tableau, a data visualization company. Tableau, which conducted an IPO a few years ago, has been experiencing substantial growth as it aims at... View Details
- January 2016 (Revised November 2019)
- Case
Blackstone at Age 30
By: Josh Lerner, John D. Dionne and Amram Migdal
Since its IPO in 2007 and following the global financial crisis, Blackstone largely outpaced its alternative investment firm peers in assets under management, new business launches, profitability, and market capitalization. Under the leadership of Stephen A.... View Details
- September 2015 (Revised September 2017)
- Case
Pershing Square 2.0
By: Robin Greenwood, Samuel Hanson and David Biery
In June 2015 William A. Ackman, the CEO and founder of New York hedge fund Pershing Square Capital, reflects on the success of the fund he has spent over a decade building. Since its inception in 2004, Pershing Square's assets under management had grown from $500... View Details
- July 2015 (Revised March 2021)
- Case
Proxy Contest at DuPont
By: Jay W. Lorsch and Emily McTague
On January 9, 2015, Nelson Peltz of Trian Fund Management launched a proxy fight for four out of the twelve seats on the DuPont board. The fund had previously published a public letter addressed to shareholders outlining its proposal to break the company into three... View Details
- July 2015
- Exercise
An Activist Approach: Castle Rock-Fultons-Remingtons
By: Guhan Subramanian and Kait Szydlowski
A three party, multiple-issue negotiation exercise dealing with a potential merger between two leading department stores, called for by an activist investor hedge fund in a letter to both companies. Company management will now attempt to navigate next moves, which are... View Details
- July 2015
- Exercise
An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Castle Rock Management
By: Guhan Subramanian and Kait Szydlowski
A three party, multiple-issue negotiation exercise dealing with a potential merger between two leading department stores, called for by an activist investor hedge fund in a letter to both companies. Company management will now attempt to navigate next moves, which are... View Details
- July 2015
- Exercise
An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores
By: Guhan Subramanian and Kait Szydlowski
A three party, multiple-issue negotiation exercise dealing with a potential merger between two leading department stores, called for by an activist investor hedge fund in a letter to both companies. Company management will now attempt to navigate next moves, which are... View Details
- July 2015
- Exercise
An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Remingtons Housewares
By: Guhan Subramanian and Kait Szydlowski
A three party, multiple-issue negotiation exercise dealing with a potential merger between two leading department stores, called for by an activist investor hedge fund in a letter to both companies. Company management will now attempt to navigate next moves, which are... View Details
- April 2015 (Revised April 2015)
- Case
Yale University Investments Office: February 2015
By: Josh Lerner
David Swensen and the Investments Office staff must decide whether to continue to allocate the bulk of the university's endowment to illiquid investments—hedge funds, private equity, real estate—given the impact of the recent market turmoil. The case explores the risks... View Details
- August 2014 (Revised March 2015)
- Case
Molycorp: Issuing the 'Happy Meal' Securities (B)
By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield
Molycorp, the Western hemisphere's only producer of rare earth minerals, was in the middle of a $1 billion capital expansion in its effort to become a vertically integrated supplier of rare earth minerals, oxides, and metals. After reporting lower than expected... View Details
Keywords: Convertible Debt; Uncertainty; Startup; Growth; Rare Earth Minerals; Mining; Hedge Funds; Short Selling; Equity Capital; Capital Structure; Financial Strategy; Valuation; Metals and Minerals; Equity; Capital; Debt Securities; Stock Shares; Financial Management; Mining Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Canada; California
- June 2014 (Revised May 2017)
- Case
Southeastern Asset Management Challenges Buyout at Dell
By: Paul Healy, Suraj Srinivasan and Aldo Sesia
In late 2012, Michael Dell wants to take Dell Inc., the company he founded, private. Mr. Dell believes that the successful company's transformation from a personal computer (PC) manufacturer to an enterprise solutions and services provider (ESS) is dependent on going... View Details
Keywords: Leveraged Buyout Transaction; Leveraged Recapitalization; Management Buyout; Dell, Inc.; Hedge Fund; Corporate Governance Theory; Valuation; Valuation Ratios; Valuation Methodologies; Board Of Directors; Boards Of Directors; Carl Icahn; Computer Services Industries; Proxy Contest; Proxy Battles; Proxy Fight; Proxy Advisor; Financial Accounting; Financial Analysis; Financial Ratios; Finance; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Corporate Finance; Leveraged Buyouts; Computer Industry; United States
- May 2014
- Article
How to Outsmart Activist Investors
By: Bill George and Jay W. Lorsch
We offer opinions on how management and corporate boards of directors can best manage investor relations with activist stockholders such as hedge funds who are demanding major changes within a corporation to improve stockholder return. Beverage industry firm PepsiCo is... View Details
Keywords: Investment Activism
- March 2014 (Revised May 2014)
- Teaching Note
The TELUS Share Conversion Proposal
By: Lucy White and Benjamin C. Esty
On February 21, 2013, TELUS announced a proposal to convert the firm's non-voting shares into voting shares on a one-to-one basis, thereby eliminating the firm's dual class structure. Shareholders were scheduled to vote on the proposal at the firm's annual general... View Details
Keywords: Proxy Contest; Proxy Battle; Proxy Advisor; ISS; Glass Lewis ＆ Co.; Hedge Fund; Short Selling; Share Lending; Telecommunications; Voting Rights; Empty Voting; Equity Decoupling; Share Unification; Dual Class Shares; Canada; Exchange Ratio; Shareholder Activism; Shareholder Votes; Investment Activism; Public Equity; Capital Structure; Investment Return; Corporate Governance; Corporate Finance; Ownership Stake; Business and Shareholder Relations; Valuation; Telecommunications Industry; Canada; British Columbia; United States; New York (city, NY)