Publications

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February 2004 (Revised September 2006)
Case

Apax Partners and Xerium S.A.

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

In 2002, Apax Partners had to decide whether to accept a less-than-perfect offer for one of its portfolio companies or to refinance it. This company, a maker of paper industry consumables with a global presence, had been purchased in 1999 and performed extremely well... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Globalized Markets and Industries; Business Exit or Shutdown; Borrowing and Debt; Investment; Cash Flow; Pulp and Paper Industry

May 1985 (Revised November 1990)
Case

Spinnaker Software Corp.

By: Howard H. Stevenson

Describes the problems faced by a company that has experienced remarkable growth, but growth which is below projections. The management must evaluate the company's position in the turbulent software industry. The two partners must then decide whether to cut back to... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Borrowing and Debt; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Profit; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Software; Information Technology Industry

02 Feb 2012
Op-Ed

Once a Castle, Home is Now a Debtors’ Prison

very own debtors' prisons. Their task is Sisyphean: they work, pay the monthly debt to the lender, yet see a perpetual gap between payments and value. The payments can seem like an extortion episode from The Sopranos. Exit strategies are... View Details

Keywords: by Nicolas P. Retsinas; Financial Services; Construction; Real Estate

07 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 7

during peaks of the private equity market, when the parent banks arrange more debt financing for in-house transactions yet have the lowest exposure to debt. Using financing terms and ex-post performance, we show that overall banks do not... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

06 Feb 2006
Research & Ideas

The Trouble Behind Livedoor

Over the past few years, Livedoor acquired more than twenty companies, most paid for with stock. Livedoor's most famous transaction, its failed attempt to buy Nippon Broadcasting Systems last year, was financed with convertible debt. However, the View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services; Technology

January 2009 (Revised October 2011)
Case

Barack Obama and the Bush Tax Cuts (A)

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl and Eric D. Werker

As his inauguration approached, President-elect Obama faced a financial sector meltdown, a costly bailout, and massive government deficits. With the economy in recession, interest rates near zero, and joblessness on the rise, Obama needed to decide whether, and how... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Management; Policy; Government Administration; Taxation; United States

10 Oct 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, October 10, 2017

economic―and from a variety of related perspectives, including debt and state finance, tariffs and tax policy, the encouragement and discouragement of trade, merchant communities and companies, smuggling and illicit trades, mercantile and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Nov 2007
First Look

First Look: November 6, 2007

balance sheet instead of raising our cash dividends or buying back shares?; Do we have the optimal capital structure, with the lowest weighted after-tax cost of total capital, including debt and equity?; Do we have an operating plan that... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

04 Oct 2016
First Look

October 4, 2016

effectively provide unconventional monetary stimulus by supporting the origination of debt that would not be originated otherwise. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51681 Creativity Under Fire: The... View Details

April 1999 (Revised March 2001)
Case

Be Our Guest, Inc.

By: Dwight B. Crane and Penny Joseph

Be Our Guest is a rapidly growing equipment rental company with substantial seasonality in its revenues and profits. In the spring of 1998, the senior management team is reviewing its financial plans in preparation for a meeting with the company's bank. The case... View Details

Keywords: Financial Strategy; Borrowing and Debt; Banks and Banking; Revenue; Management Teams; Business Plan; Forecasting and Prediction; Utilities Industry; Service Industry

July 2009 (Revised July 2009)
Case

Delphi Corp. and the Credit Derivatives Market (A)

By: Stuart C. Gilson, Victoria Ivashina and Sarah Abbott

In 2005, Jane Bauer-Martin, a hedge fund manager, is considering what she should do with the fund's large investment in the publicly traded bonds of Delphi Corp., a financially troubled auto parts supplier. Delphi is General Motor's key auto parts supplier, and, like... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Bonds; Financial Management; Risk Management

January 2017 (Revised August 2017)
Case

Earl Gordon - Eastern Circle

By: Steven Rogers and Greg White

This case follows an African-American entrepreneur through the process of sourcing a potential acquisition, valuing a company, and securing the funding to purchase the company. This entrepreneur must decide if he should close the deal and which financing term sheet to... View Details