Finance Case Studies

The International Center for Finance (ICF) provides academic and professional support for research in financial economics. This includes the development of finance case studies that are used as teaching instruments. A case study is an in-depth examination of a real-world business situation that centers on a dilemma faced by a company or industry.

This writing format allows students to analyze complex scenarios, apply theoretical concepts to practical situations, and develop critical thinking and decision-making skills. Case studies encourage students to put themselves in the position of business leaders and propose solutions based on the available information

Over the years, ICF faculty have produced cases on hot topics and trends that help keep the Yale SOM curriculum current. Yale SOM alumni and ICF Advisory Board members have also teamed up to create cases based on real life problems that they have experienced firsthand or on topics that they find relevant to their professional industry.

Expand the sections below to read more about each case study:

360 State Street: Real Options

September 5, 2012

Andrea Nagy Smith and Mathew Spiegel

Asset Management, Investor/Finance, Metrics & Data, Sourcing/Managing Funds

360 State Street proved successful, but what could Bruce Becker construct on the 6,000-square-foot vacant lot at the southwest corner of the project? Under what set of circumstances and at what time would it be most advantageous to proceed? Or should he build anything at all?

Alexander Hamilton and the Origin of American Finance

November 9, 2010

Andrea Nagy Smith, William Goetzmann, and Jeffrey Levick

Business History, Financial Regulation, Investor/Finance

Alexander Hamilton is said to have invented the future. At a time when the young United States of America was disorganized and bankrupt, Hamilton could see that the nation would become a powerful economy.

Alternative Meat Industry: How Should Beyond Meat be Valued?

January 22, 2021

Nikki Springer, Leon Van Wyk, Jacob Thomas, K. Geert Rouwenhorst and Jaan Elias

Competitor/Strategy, Customer/Marketing, Investor/Finance, Sourcing/Managing Funds, Sustainability

In 2009, when experienced entrepreneur Ethan Brown decided to build a better veggie burger, he set his sights on an exceptional goal – create a plant-based McDonald’s equally beloved by the American appetite. To do this, he knew he needed to transform the idea of plant-based meat alternatives from the sleepy few veggie burger options in the grocer’s freezer case into a fundamentally different product. Would further investments in research and development help give Beyond Meat an edge? Would Americans continue to embrace meat alternatives, or would the initial fanfare subside below investor expectations?

Ant Financial: Flourishing Farmer Loans at MYbank

February 24, 2017

Jingyue Xu, Jean Rosenthal, K. Sudhir, Hua Song, Xia Zhang, Yuanfang Song, Xiaoxi Liu, and Jaan Elias

Competitor/Strategy, Customer/Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Design, Investor/Finance, Leadership & Teamwork, Operations, State & Society

In 2015 Ant Financial's MYbank (an offshoot of Jack Ma’s Alibaba company) created the Flourishing Farmer Loan program, an all-internet banking service for China's rural areas. Could MYbank use financial technology to create a program with competitive costs and risk management?

Bank of Ireland

January 9, 2014

Jean W. Rosenthal, Eamonn Walsh, Matt Spiegel, Will Goetzmann, David Bach, Damien P. McLoughlin, Fernando Fernandez, Gayle Allard, and Jaan Elias

Asset Management, Financial Regulation, Investor/Finance, Leadership & Teamwork, Macroeconomics, State & Society

In August 2011, Wilbur Ross, an American investor specializing in distressed and bankrupt companies, purchased 35% of the stock of Bank of Ireland. Even for Ross, investing in an Irish bank seemed risky. Observers wondered if the investment made sense.

Brandeis and the Rose Museum

July 29, 2009

Brandeis and the Rose Museum

Arts Management, Asset Management, Investor/Finance, Social Enterprise, Sourcing/Managing Funds

The question of the role museums should play in university life became urgent for Brandeis in early 2009. Standard portfolios of investments had just taken a beating. Given that environment, should Brandeis sell art in order to save its other programs?

Canary Wharf: Financing and Placemaking

November 10, 2017

William N. Goetzmann, Jean Rosenthal, and Jaan Elias

Asset Management, Business History, Customer/Marketing, Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Design, Investor/Finance, Sourcing/Managing Funds, State & Society

The financial engineering of London's Canary Wharf was as impressive as the structural engineering. However, Brexit and the rise of fintech represented new challenges. Would financial firms leave the U.K.? Would fintech firms seek new kinds of space? How should the Canary Wharf Group respond?

Carry Trade ETF

August 25, 2008

K. Geert Rouwenhorst, Jean W. Rosenthal, and Jaan Elias

Innovation & Design, Investor/Finance, Macroeconomics, Sourcing/Managing Funds

In 2006 Deutsche Bank (DB) brought a new product to market – an exchange traded fund (ETF) based on the carry trade, a strategy of buying and selling currency futures. The offering received the William F. Sharpe Indexing Achievement Award for “Most Innovative Index Fund or ETF” at the 2006 Sharpe Awards. These awards are presented annually by IndexUniverse.com and Information Management Network for innovative advances in the indexing industry. The carry trade ETF shared the award with another DB/PowerShares offering, a Commodity Index Tracking Fund. Jim Wiandt, publisher of IndexUniverse.com, said, "These innovators are shaping the course of the index industry, creating new tools and providing new insights for the benefit of all investors." What was it that made this financial innovation successful?

Centerbridge

December 24, 2015

Jean Rosenthal and Olav Sorensen

Asset Management, Employee/HR, Investor/Finance, Leadership & Teamwork

When Jeffrey Aronson and Mark Gallogly founded Centerbridge, they hoped to grow the firm, but not to a point that it would lose its culture. Having added an office in London, could the firm add more locations and maintain its collegial character?

Commonfund ESG

Jaan Elias, Sarah Friedman Hersh, Maggie Chau, Logan Ashcraft, and Pamela Jao

Asset Management, Investor/Finance, Metrics & Data, Social Enterprise

ESG (Environmental Social and Governance) investing had become an increasingly hot topic in the financial community. Could Commonfund offer its endowment clients some investment vehicle that would satisfy ESG concerns while producing sufficient returns?

Demosthenes and Athenian Finance

September 3, 2010

Andrea Nagy Smith and William Goetzmann

Business History, Financial Regulation, Law & Contracts

Demosthenes' Oration 35, "Against Lacritus," contains the only surviving maritime loan contract from the fourth century B.C., proving that the ancient Greeks had devised a commercial code to link the economic lives of people from all over the Greek world. Athenians and non-Athenians alike came to the port of Piraeus to trade freely.

Factor Investing for Retirement

Jean Rosenthal, Jaan Elias and William Goetzmann

Asset Management, Investor/Finance

Should this investor look for a portfolio of factor funds to meet his goals for his 401(k) Retirement Plan?

The Federal Reserve Response to 9-11

August 10, 2020

Jean Rosenthal, William B. English, Jaan Elias

Financial Regulation, Investor/Finance, Leadership & Teamwork, State & Society

The attacks on New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on September 11, 2001, shocked the nation and the world. The attacks crippled the nerve center of the U.S. financial system. Information flow among banks, traders in multiple markets, and regulators was interrupted. Under Roger Ferguson's leadership, the Federal Reserve made a series of decisions designed to provide confidence and increase liquidity in a severely damaged financial system. In hindsight, were these the best approaches? Were there other options that could have taken place?

Fondaco dei Tedeschi: A New Luxury Shopping Destination for Venice

November 9, 2017

William Goetzmann, Jean Rosenthal, Jaan Elias, Edoardo Pasinato, Lukas Cejnar, Ellie Campion

Business History, Competitor/Strategy, Customer/Marketing, Innovation & Design, Investor/Finance, Sourcing/Managing Funds, State & Society

The renovation of the Fondaco dei Tedeschi in Venice represented a grand experiment. Should an ancient building in the midst of a world heritage site be transformed into a modern mall for luxury goods? How best to achieve the transformation and make it economically sustainable? Would tourists walk to the mall? And would they buy or just look? What could each stakeholder learn from their experiences with the Fondaco dei Tedeschi?

The Future of Malls: Was Decline Inevitable?

August 1, 2019

Jean Rosenthal, Anna Williams, Brandon Colon, Robert Park, William Goetzmann, Jessica Helfand

Business History, Customer/Marketing, Innovation & Design, Investor/Finance

Shopping malls became the "Main Street" of US suburbs beginning in the mid-20th century. But will they persist into the 21st?

Gardner Denver

September 15, 2020

James Quinn, Adam Blumenthal, and Jaan Elias

Asset Management, Employee/HR, Investor/Finance, Leadership & Teamwork

As KKR, a private equity firm, prepared to take Gardner-Denver, one of its portfolio companies, public in mid-2017, a discussion arose on the Gardner-Denver board about the implications of granting approximately $110 million in equity to its global employee base as part of its innovative "broad-based employee ownership program." Was the generous equity package that Pete Stavros proposed be allotted to 6,100 employees the wisest move and the right timing for Gardner Denver and its new shareholders?

George Hudson and the 1840s Railway Mania

December 8, 2011

Andrea Nagy Smith, James Chanos, and James Spellman

Business History, Financial Regulation, Investor/Finance, Metrics & Data

Railways were one of the original disruptive technologies: they transformed England from an island of slow, agricultural villages into a fast, urban, industrialized nation. George Hudson was the central figure in the mania for railroad shares in England. After the share value crashed, some analysts blamed Hudson, others pointed to irrational investors and still others maintained the crash was due to macroeconomic factors.

Glory, Glory Man United!

Charles Euvhner, Jacob Thomas, K. Geert Rouwenhorst, and Jaan Elias

Competitor/Strategy, Employee/HR, Investor/Finance, Leadership & Teamwork, Sourcing/Managing Funds

Manchester United might be the greatest English sports dynasty of all time. But valuation poses unique challenges. How much should a team's success on the pitch count toward its net worth?

Hawara

January 14, 2008

William Goetzmann and Jaan Elias

Asset Management, Business History

Hawara is the site of the massive pyramid of Amenemhat III, a XII Dynasty [Middle Kingdom, 1204 – 1604 B.C.E.] pharaoh. The Hawara Labyrinth and Pyramid Complex present a wealth of information about the Middle Kingdom. Among its treasures are papyri covering property rights and transfers of ownership.

Hertz Global Holdings (A): Uses of Debt and Equity

January 11, 2021

Jean Rosenthal, Geert Rouwenhorst, Jacob Thomas, Allen Xu

Asset Management, Financial Regulation, Sourcing/Managing Funds

By 2019, Hertz CEO Kathyrn Marinello and CFO Jamere Jackson had managed to streamline the venerable car rental firm's operations. Their next steps were to consider ways to fine-tune Hertz's capital structure. Would it make sense for Marinello and Jackson to lead Hertz to issue more equity to re-balance the structure? One possibility was a stock rights offering, but an established company issuing equity was not generally well-received by investors. How well would the market respond to an attempt by Hertz management to increase shareholder equity?

Hertz Global Holdings (B): Uses of Debt and Equity 2020

January 11, 2021

Jean Rosenthal, Geert Rouwenhorst, Jacob Thomas, Allen Xu

Asset Management, Investor/Finance, Sourcing/Managing Funds

In 2019, Hertz held a successful rights offering and restructured some of its debt. CEO Kathyrn Marinello and CFO Jamere Jackson were moving the company toward what seemed to be sustainable profitability, having implemented major structural and financial reforms. Analysts predicted a rosy future. Travel, particularly corporate travel, was increasing as the economy grew. With all the creativity that the company had shown in its financial arrangements, did it have any options remaining, even while under the court-led reorganization?

Hirtle Callaghan & Co

June 30, 2020

James Quinn, Jaan Elias, and Adam Blumenthal

Asset Management, Investor/Finance, Leadership & Teamwork

In August 2019, Stephen Vaccaro, Yale MBA ‘03, became the director of private equity at Hirtle, Callaghan & Co., LLC (HC), a leading investment management firm associated with pioneering the outsourced chief investment office (OCIO) model for college endowments, foundations, and wealthy families. Vaccaro was tasked with spearheading efforts to grow HC’s private equity (PE) market value from $1 billion to a new target of roughly $3 billion in order to contribute to the effort of generating higher long-term returns for clients. Would investment committees overseeing endowments typically in the 10s or 100s of millions embrace this shift, and, more pointedly, was this the best move for client portfolios?

Home Health Care

March 13, 2020

Jean Rosenthal, Jaan Elias, Adam Blumenthal, and Jeremy Kogler

Asset Management, Competitor/Strategy, Healthcare, Investor/Finance

Blue Wolf Capital Partners was making major investments in the home health care sector. The private equity fund had purchased two U.S. regional companies in the space. The plan was to merge the two organizations, creating opportunities for shared expertise and synergies in reducing management costs. Two years later, the management team was considering adding a third company. Projected revenues for the combined organization would top $1 billion annually. What was the likelihood that this opportunity would succeed?

Kmart Bankruptcy

November 5, 2010

Jean Rosenthal, Heather Tookes, Henry S. Miller, and Jaan Elias

Asset Management, Financial Regulation, Investor/Finance

Less than 18 months after Kmart entered Chapter 11, the company emerged and its stocked soared. Why had the chain entered Chapter 11 in the first place and how had the bankruptcy process allowed the company to right itself?

Lahey Clinic: North Shore Expansion

Jaan Elias, Andrea R. Nagy, Jessica P. Strauss, and William N. Goetzmann

Asset Management, Financial Regulation, Healthcare, Investor/Finance

In early 2007 the Lahey Clinic in Massachusetts believed that expansion of its North Shore facility was not only a smart strategy but also a business necessity. The two years of turmoil in the Massachusetts health care market prompted observers to question Lahey's 2007 decisions. Did the expansion strategy still make sense?

Low-Carbon Investing: Commonfund & GPSU

October 10, 2014

Jaan Elias, William Goetzmann, and K. Geert Rouwenhorst

Asset Management, Ethics & Religion, Investor/Finance, Social Enterprise, State & Society, Sustainability

In August of 2014, the movement to divest fossil fuel investments from endowment portfolios was sweeping campuses across the United States, including Gifford Pinchot State University (GPSU). How should GPSU and its investment partner Commonfund react?

Nathan Cummings Foundation

March 27, 2019

Ellie Campion, Dwayne Edwards, Brad Wayman, Anna Williams, William Goetzmann, and Jean Rosenthal

Asset Management, Investor/Finance, Leadership & Teamwork, Social Enterprise, Sourcing/Managing Funds

The Nathan Cummings Foundation Investment Committee and Board of Trustees had studied the decision to go “all in” on a mission-related investment approach. The Board voted 100% to support this new direction and new goals for financial investments, but many questions remained. How could NCF operationalize and integrate this new strategy? What changes would it need to make to support the investment strategies' long-term success? How could NCF measure and track its progress and success with this new strategy?

Newhall Ranch Land Parcel

Asset Management, Financial Regulation, Investor/Finance

Acquired by a partnership of two closely intertwined homebuilders, Newhall Ranch was the last major tract of undeveloped land in Los Angeles County in 2003.

Northern Pulp: A Private Equity Firm Resurrects a Troubled Paper Company

July 15, 2016

Heather Tookes, Peter Schott, Francesco Bova, Jaan Elias and Andrea Nagy Smith

Investor/Finance, Macroeconomics, State & Society, Sustainability

In 2008, the lumber industry was in a severe recession, yet Blue Wolf Capital Management was considering investment in a paper mill in Nova Scotia. How should they proceed?

Occidental Petroleum's Acquisition of Anadarko

February 7, 2021

Jaan Elias, Piyush Kabra, Jacob Thomas, K. Geert Rouwenhorst

Asset Management, Competitor/Strategy, Investor/Finance, Sourcing/Managing Funds

In May of 2019, Vicki Hollub, the CEO of Occidental Petroleum (Oxy), pulled off a blockbuster. Bidding against Chevron, one of the world's largest oil firms, she had managed to buy Anadarko, another oil company that was roughly the size of Oxy. Hollub believed that the combination of the two firms brought the possibility for billions of dollars in synergies, more than offsetting the cost of the acquisition. Had Hollub hurt shareholder value with Oxy's ambitious deal, or had she bolstered a mid-size oil firm and made it a major player in the petroleum industry? Why didn't investors see the tremendous synergies in which Hollub fervently believed?

Oil, ETFs, and Speculation

July 28, 2009

So Alex Roelof, K. Geert Rouwenhorst, and Jaan Elias

Asset Management, Financial Regulation, Investor/Finance

Since the markets' origins, traders sought standardized wares to increase market liquidity. In the 1960s and later, they sought assets uncorrelated to traditional bonds and equities. By late 2004, commodity-based exchange-traded securities emerged.

Prodigy Finance

April 4, 2018

Vero Bourg-Meyer, Javier Gimeno, Jaan Elias, Florian Ederer

Competitor/Strategy, Investor/Finance, Social Enterprise, State & Society, Sustainability

Having pioneered a successful financing model for student loans, Prodigy also was considering other financial services that could make use of the company’s risk model. What new products could Prodigy offer to support its student borrowers? What strategy should guide the company’s new product development? Or should the company stick to the educational loans it pioneered and knew best?

Role of Hedge Funds in Institutional Portfolios: Florida Retirement System

September 26, 2016

Jaan Elias, William Goetzmann and Lloyd Baskin

Asset Management, Financial Regulation, Investor/Finance, Metrics & Data, State & Society

The Florida Retirement System, one of the country’s largest state pensions, had been slow to embrace hedge funds, but by 2015, they had 7% of their assets in the category. How should they manage their program?

Shake Shack IPO

October 21, 2016

Vero Bourg-Meyer, Jaan Elias, Jake Thomas and Geert Rouwenhorst

Competitor/Strategy, Innovation & Design, Investor/Finance, Leadership & Teamwork, Sourcing/Managing Funds, Sustainability

Shake Shack's long lines of devoted fans made investors salivate when the company went public in 2015 and shares soared above expectations. Was the enthusiasm justified? Could the company maintain its edge in the long run?

Social Security 1935

November 30, 2016

Jean Rosenthal, William N. Goetzmann, and Jaan Elias

Business History, Financial Regulation, Innovation & Design, Investor/Finance, State & Society

Frances Perkins, Franklin Roosevelt's Secretary of Labor, shaped the Social Security Act of 1935, changing America’s pension landscape. What might she have done differently?

South Sea Bubble

Frank Newman and William Goetzmann

Business History, Financial Regulation

The story of the South Sea Company and its seemingly absurd stock price levels always enters into conversations about modern valuation bubbles. Because of its modern application, discerning what was at the root of the world's first stock market crash merits considerable attention. What about the South Sea Company and the political, economic and social context in which it operated led to its stunning collapse?

Strategy for Norway's Pension Fund Global

May 8, 2014

Jean Rosenthal, William N. Goetzmann, Olav Sorenson, Andrew Ang, and Jaan Elias

Asset Management, Investor/Finance, Sourcing/Managing Funds

Norway's Pension Fund Global was the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world. With questions in 2014 on policies, ethical investment, and other concerns, what was the appropriate investment strategy for the Fund?

Subprime Lending Crisis

Jaan Elias and William N. Goetzmann

Asset Management, Financial Regulation, Investor/Finance, State & Society

To understand the collapse of the subprime mortgage market, we look at a failing Mortgage Backed Security (MBS) and then drill down to look at a single loan that has gone bad.

Suwanee Lumber Company (A)

Suwanee Lumber Company

May 22, 2020

Jaan Elias, Adam Blumenthal, James Shovlin, and Heather E. Tookes

Asset Management, Investor/Finance, Sustainability

In 2016, Blue Wolf, a private equity firm headquartered in New York City, confronted a number of options when it came to its lumber business. They could put their holdings in the Suwanee Lumber Company (SLC), a sawmill they had purchased in 2013, up for sale. Or they could continue to hold onto SLC and run it as a standalone business. Or they could double down on the lumber business by buying an idle mill in Arkansas to run along with SLC.

Suwanee Lumber Company (B)

May 22, 2020

Jaan Elias, Adam Blumenthal, James Shovlin, and Heather E. Tookes

Asset Management, Investor/Finance, Sustainability

In early 2018, Blue Wolf Capital Management received an offer to sell both its mill in Arkansas (Caddo) and its mill in Florida (Suwanee) to Conifex, an upstart Canadian lumber company. Blue Wolf hadn’t planned to put both mills up for sale yet, but was the deal too good to pass up? Blue Wolf had invested nearly $36.5 million into rehabilitating the Suwanee and Caddo mills. However, neither was fully operational yet. Did the offer price fairly value the prospects of the mills? How should Blue Wolf consider the Conifex stock? Should Blue Wolf conduct a more extensive sales process rather than settle for this somewhat unexpected offer?

Taking EOP Private

Allison Mitkowski, William Goetzmann, and Jaan Elias

Asset Management, Financial Regulation, Investor/Finance, Leadership & Teamwork

With 594 properties nationwide, EOP was the nation’s largest office landlord. Despite EOP's dominance of the REIT market, analysts had historically undervalued EOP. However, Blackstone saw something in EOP that the analysts didn’t, and in November, Blackstone offered to buy EOP for $48.50 per share. What did Blackstone and Vornado see that the market didn’t?

tronc: Valuing the Future of Newspapers

August 25, 2017

Jean Rosenthal, Heather E. Tookes, and Jaan Elias

Business History, Competitor/Strategy, Investor/Finance, Leadership & Teamwork

Gannet offered Tribune Publishing an all-cash buyout offer. Tribune then made a strategic pivot: new stock listing, new name "tronc," and a goal of posting 1,000 videos/day. Should the Tribune board take the buyout opportunity? What was the right price?

Twining-Hadley Incorporated

November 11, 2018

Jaan Elias, K Geert Rouwenhorst, Jacob Thomas

Employee/HR, Investor/Finance, Metrics & Data, Sourcing/Managing Funds

Jessica Austin has been asked to compute THI's Weighted Average Cost of Capital, a key measure for making investments and deciding executive compensation. What should she consider in making her calculation?

UAW VEBA

May 7, 2009

Jean W. Rosenthal, Jaan Elias, William N. Goetzmann, Stanley Garstka, and Jacob Thomas

Asset Management, Healthcare, Investor/Finance, Sourcing/Managing Funds, State & Society

A centerpiece of the 2007 contract negotiations between the UAW and GM - and later with Chrysler and Ford - was establishing a Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA) to provide for retiree healthcare costs. The implications were substantial.

Voltaire, Casanova, and 18th-Century Lotteries

August 5, 2010

Jean Rosenthal and William N. Goetzmann

Business History, State & Society

Gambling has been a part of human activity since earliest recorded history, and governments have often attempted to turn that impulse to benefit the state. The development of lotteries in the 18th century helped to develop the study of probabilities and enabled the financial success of some of the leading figures of that era.

Walmart de México: Investing in Renewable Energy

December 16, 2011

Jean Rosenthal, K. Geert Rouwenhorst, Isabel Studer, Jaan Elias, and Juan Carlos Rivera

Investor/Finance, Operations, State & Society, Sustainability

Walmart de México y Centroamérica contracted for power from EVM's wind farm, saving energy costs and improving sustainability. What should the company's next steps be to advance its goals?