Publications

May 2005 (Revised January 2006)
Case

Mortgage Backs at Ticonderoga

Ticonderoga is a small hedge fund that trades in mortgage-backed securities--securities created from pooled mortgage loans. They often appear as straightforward so-called "pass-throughs," but can also be pooled again to create collateral for a mortgage security known... View Details

Keywords: Debt Securities; Mortgages; Investment Funds

July 2017
Case

Centerbridge Partners and Great Wolf Resorts: Buying from a Highly Regarded Competitor

By: Josh Lerner, John D. Dionne and Amram Migdal

The case examines the March 2015 Centerbridge Partners investment decision regarding whether to acquire Great Wolf Resorts, a North American family-oriented indoor water parks and hotel operator, from a private equity (PE) competitor, Apollo Global Management. The case... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity Financing; Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities; CMBS; Secondary Buyouts; Business Ventures; Acquisition; Finance; Borrowing and Debt; Cost; Cost of Capital; Equity; Private Equity; Financial Instruments; Debt Securities; Accommodations Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Financial Services Industry; North and Central America; United States

July 2017
Supplement

Centerbridge Partners and Great Wolf Resorts (B)

By: Josh Lerner, John D. Dionne and Amram Migdal

The case examines the aftermath of the March 2015 Centerbridge Partners acquisition of Great Wolf Resorts, a North American family-oriented indoor water parks and hotel operator, from a private equity (PE) competitor, Apollo Global Management. View Details

24 Sep 2019
Research & Ideas

Do National Security Secrets Hold Back National Innovation?

rights to commercialize their ideas in exchange for disclosing the details of their inventions in the patent document itself. The system is designed to make information about cutting-edge technology available to other inventors, in order... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

December 2017
Teaching Note

Centerbridge Partners and Great Wolf Resorts: Buying from a Highly Regarded Competitor

By: Josh Lerner, John D. Dionne and Amram Migdal

Teaching Note for HBS Nos. 818-023 and 818-024. View Details

Keywords: Private Equity Financing; Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities; CMBS; Secondary Buyouts; Sbo; Business Exit or Shutdown; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Financial Services Industry

09 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

Rebuilding Commercial Real Estate

million property that generates $100,000 in cash flow would have a cap rate of 10 percent.) Historically, the cap rate for commercial real estate has averaged 9 percent. As property prices soared in the 1980s, cap rates sank to between 5... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Construction; Real Estate

11 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

Shrinking the Racial Wealth Gap, One Mortgage at a Time

Hiring more minority loan officers could help people of color secure significantly more home loans and address one of the biggest factors driving the racial wealth gap, new research finds. In the white-dominated US banking industry,... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

November 2023 (Revised April 2024)
Case

BiomX: Bringing Phage Back to the Stage

By: Paul A. Gompers, Elie Ofek, Orna Dan and Emilie Billaud

In the spring of 2023, and following the favorable results of a trial involving its phage cocktail for treating lung infections among cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, the leadership of BiomX had several critical issues to wrestle with. First, given its precarious... View Details

Keywords: Working Capital; Financing and Loans; Health Testing and Trials; Product Development; Research and Development; Science-Based Business; Commercialization; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

04 Mar 2016
Research & Ideas

Is E-commerce at Risk in Apple's Security Dispute with the FBI?

vital for the structure of e-commerce and that’s the broader issue" Q: Is there a distinction to be made here between Apple protecting its own commercial interests and protecting customer security more... View Details

Keywords: Re: Sunil Gupta; Technology

03 Dec 2008
What Do You Think?

Can Housing and Credit be “Nudged” Back to Health?

thieves ...." Cole Woodson added, "The hope of nudging the economy in any direction is hoping for a miracle.... No securities of any type should even be allowed to be sold in the marketplace without government approval and some... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

June 2009 (Revised November 2020)
Case

Busse Place

By: Arthur I Segel, William J. Poorvu, Richard Kessler, Justin Seth Ginsburgh and Eric Fleiss

Busse Corporate Center's largest tenant recently declared bankruptcy, leaving the building 38% occupied and significantly overleveraged. In a depressed suburban Chicago office market, Hannah Sanchez, the leasing agent, has to negotiate lease proposals with three... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Restructuring; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Management; Mortgages; Investment; Leasing; Property; Real Estate Industry; Chicago

24 Feb 2011
Research & Ideas

What’s Government’s Role in Regulating Home Purchase Financing?

private mortgage credit dries up. "In that case, a government-owned corporation could guarantee newly issued, high-quality mortgage-backed securities to keep credit flowing," says Scharfstein. "This entity... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services

January 2009 (Revised February 2010)
Case

Necessity and Invention: Monetary Policy Innovation and the Subprime Crisis

By: Aldo Musacchio and Dante Roscini

This case describes the efforts of Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, to improve liquidity in money markets during the subprime crisis. The case explains the four main new tools for monetary policy (or quantitative easing) the Federal Reserve has used... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Money; Financial Liquidity; Central Banking; Policy; Business and Government Relations