2009 Headlines
Johnson School Takes First Place in New York State's ACG Cup Competition
Students determine optimal financial strategy for holding company and private equity firm
May 1, 2009 | Ithaca, NY | A team of Johnson School MBA students won first place at the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) Cup competition hosted by ACG New York. This two-round case competition requires student participants to provide strategic financial advice to a holding company and private equity firm. The Johnson School team consisted of Denise Chow ('10), Henry Hendrawan ('09), Ashwini Inamdar ('10), Sasha Kaganas ('09) and Jason Lee ('10).
In the first round of the competition, the team determined the optimal financial strategy for a medium sized holding company consisting of a publishing and apparel business. Their recommendations included selling off the apparel business to unlock a higher breakup value and use the proceeds to both invest in the publishing company's online media business and buy back shares.
The final round of the competition was held at the Metropolitan Club in Manhattan. Competing against teams from Baruch College, Fordham University, Hofstra University, New York University and Pace University, students were asked to present to a mock investment committee of a private equity firm. The judges included practitioners from leading private equity firms such as Wasserstein & Co. and Allied Capital. The students performed a leveraged buyout analysis, made recommendations and answered questions on the offer price, structure and exit strategies for the private equity firm that was interested in a standalone fashion company.
Denise Chow comments, "The ACG Cup was an exceptional experience for all of us. It was a lot of hard work, but gave us a chance to network with industry professionals and students from other schools, learn from each other's experience and apply all the concepts we've learned over the last year in the Investment Banking immersion." Henry Hendrawan adds, "Beyond that, we were able to present in front of seasoned industry experts who challenged our thinking and provided insightful feedback and advice."
