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- August 1998
- Case
Record Masters
By: William A. Sahlman, Michael J. Roberts and Laurence E. Katz
Kent Dauten, a former general partner at the Chicago private equity firm of Madison Dearborn Partners, has engaged in a search to personally sponsor a buyout in which he can play an active management role. He has received a selling memorandum for Record Masters, a... View Details
- March 1998 (Revised March 1999)
- Case
Dell Online
By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell
Dell started online commerce for its PCs in 1996, and by 1997 had achieved a sales rate of $3 million a day. The case describes the internal process that led to these dramatic results and poses the question of how the firm should leverage this activity to meet Michael... View Details
- October 1997 (Revised March 1998)
- Case
Komatsu Ltd.: Project G's Globalization
This case describes the major strategic and organizational transformation at Komatsu aimed at changing it from a Japan-based producer of construction equipment to a truly global company with the ability to leverage its groupwide portfolio of resources and capabilities... View Details
- June 1997
- Case
VeriFone: The Transaction Automation Company (A) Abridged
Describes VeriFone's new organizational model and its role in catapulting VeriFone to a market leadership position. Examines the impact of information technology and information access on the ability to leverage global resources, market responsiveness, and... View Details
- March 1997
- Article
Transactions Costs and Capital Structure Choice: Evidence from Financially Distressed Firms
By: S. C. Gilson
This study provides evidence that transactions costs discourage debt reductions by financially distressed firms when they restructure their debt out of court. As a result, these firms remain highly leveraged and one-in-three subsequently experience financial distress.... View Details
- February 1997 (Revised August 2016)
- Case
Stone Container Corporation (A)
By: W. Carl Kester and Kirk Goldman
In early 1993, Stone Container was heavily burdened by debt following a series of highly leveraged acquisitions. A prolonged depression in paper prices necessitated the development of a comprehensive financial plan to relieve the financial pressures on Stone. Among the... View Details
- February 1997 (Revised October 2002)
- Case
The Exxel Group: September 1995
By: Josh Lerner, Alex Hoye and Gonzalo Pacanins
The Exxel Group, a private equity group based in Buenos Aires, is considering a buyout of Argencard, Mastercard's exclusive licensee in Argentina. To complete the deal, however, it will need to raise additional financing from U.S. investors. Both the valuation and the... View Details
- February 1997 (Revised December 2012)
- Case
Jim Sharpe: Extrusion Technology, Inc. (A)
By: H. Kent Bowen and Barbara Feinberg
Jim Sharpe, 11 years after receiving his MBA from Harvard and working for others, has finally become his own boss and 100% owner of manufacturer of aluminum extrusions. After 10 months of an unfunded search, he acquires the business in an LBO and prepares to face his... View Details
Keywords: Acquisitions; Search Funds; Entrepreneurial Management; Entrepreneurs; Turnarounds; Bank Loan; Manufacturing; Metals Processing; Entrepreneurial Finance; Leveraged Buyouts; Labor Unions; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Crisis Management; Management Skills; Experience and Expertise; Borrowing and Debt; Manufacturing Industry
- February 1997
- Case
Transportation Displays, Incorporated (D): Exiting from a Successful Restructuring
By: Stuart C. Gilson, Vincent Hemmer, Eric Rahe, David Shorrock and Stephen Voorhis
Following a successful corporate turnaround and, more recently, a leveraged recapitalization, management of a highly profitable, fast--growing outdoor advertising company must consider alternative ways to harvest cash flow from the company without jeopardizing the... View Details
- January 1997 (Revised November 1997)
- Case
Fojtasek Companies and Heritage Partners, The: March 1995
By: Samuel L. Hayes III and Josh Lerner
The Fojtasek Companies, a family business, faces several financing choices to address generational succession issues. Several buyouts have expressed interest in acquiring the firm outright; an investment bank has proposed a leveraged recapitalization; and a private... View Details
- December 1996 (Revised July 1997)
- Case
USG Corporation
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Tara L. Nells
In 1988, USG was the world's largest gypsum producer and one of the world's largest building-products companies. On May 2, 1988, USG's board of directors announced a proposed leveraged recapitalization plan to thwart a hostile cash tender offer by Desert Partners. With... View Details
- October 1996 (Revised April 1997)
- Case
Northco (A)
By: Ananth Raman and Bowon Kim
A small school-uniform manufacturer wrestles with seasonal demand. The company is saddled with excess inventory when it is bought by a leveraged buyout firm. Students are required to identify ways to analyze and solve the problem. View Details
- 1996
- Chapter
The LBO Association as a Relational Investing Regime: Clinical Evidence From Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, Inc.
By: Timothy A. Luehrman and W. Carl Kester
- August 1996 (Revised December 1999)
- Case
J Boats, Inc.
By: Robert L. Simons
During the 20-year evolution of a family-owned, entrepreneurial sailboat company, two founders leverage their design and marketing skills to build one of the most recognized brands in the recreational boating industry. The founder then considers management succession... View Details
- July 1996 (Revised January 1997)
- Case
Northwest Airlines: Brush with Bankruptcy (A)--November 1992
By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Davis Dyer
Deals with Northwest's financial crisis between the fall of 1992 and the following spring. Northwest's leaders face the problem of how to meet an impending $600 million payment on the 1989 LBO loan when the airline had run out of cash. Concludes by outlining options... View Details
- July 1996
- Case
Bayside Controls, Inc.
By: H. Kent Bowen, Jennifer Kochman and Sylvie Ryckebusch
Two recent MBA graduates acquire a small and ailing metal-machining company that had manufactured small aerospace components. Through clever application of state-of-the-art manufacturing, engineering, and marketing/sales concepts, they turned the company into a growing... View Details
- July 1996
- Background Note
The GM's Organizational Challenge: Embedding and Leveraging Capability
By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Ashish Nanda
Describes how general managers can build organizational capability in their firms. View Details
- 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