NYU Takes Third Place in HLHZ Competition
by Jared Gordon, jdg7324
Issue date: 2/8/05 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
The American Bankruptcy Institute, in conjunction with Northwestern's Kellogg School of Business, put together the first annual Corporate Restructuring Competition, sponsored by Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin and held in mid November.
NYU was chosen as one of the first eight schools to participate in the competition, along with Stanford, Berkeley, Michigan, Wharton, Kellogg, and Chicago. Each team was given the case a week ahead of time and asked to prepare presentations for the creditors, the company's bank and the board of directors. Chosen from a list of qualified applicants, the NYU team consisted of Brian Becker, Jared Gordon, Mark Iwanski, and Tom Treinen, and this team would take third place in the competition.
The first day of the competition included presentations to the creditors' committee and the bank. Only half the competitors advanced to the next round. Each audience was comprised of professionals in the bankruptcy and restructuring community, from firms including HLHZ, JP Morgan, and Northwestern Mutual, as well as several hedge funds.
The panelists played their parts with a great deal of authenticity; The creditors portrayed a genuine anger concerning their investment losses, while the bank was reluctant to continue funding what seemed to be a failing company. As advisors to the board of directors, it was the participants' job to convince these two groups to remain invested, rather than to force a liquidation of the company's assets. In addition, we had to take their concerns and incorporate them into our presentation in the second round to the board of the Company.
Despite being yelled at by the creditors, and having to come up with some creative reasons why the bank should stay in the game, the NYU team made it to the second round, where we presented to the board. Ultimately, we garnered a third-place finish, behind Stanford and Michigan (but more importantly, ahead of Wharton, Kellogg, and Chicago).
The experience was intense but rewarding. Even with the week of preparation time, the demands of the competition and changes required by the inputs from each panel meant that we put in two late nights, watching the sun rise before the second day of competition. Several memorable quotes followed us home from the competition, including one exasperated team member remarking to the board that their optimistic plan was "like putting a band-aid on a bleeding heart." At another point, after some serious debate as to the future of the company and the board's place within it, a board member pointedly asked "Well how about we just fire you?" Needless to say, it was a realistic competition.
We were happy with our finish, and were told that several of the judges felt that a first place finish was in order for NYU. Hopefully, a team from among the many qualified first-years will keep the flag raised and continue this fine tradition next year.
NYU was chosen as one of the first eight schools to participate in the competition, along with Stanford, Berkeley, Michigan, Wharton, Kellogg, and Chicago. Each team was given the case a week ahead of time and asked to prepare presentations for the creditors, the company's bank and the board of directors. Chosen from a list of qualified applicants, the NYU team consisted of Brian Becker, Jared Gordon, Mark Iwanski, and Tom Treinen, and this team would take third place in the competition.
The first day of the competition included presentations to the creditors' committee and the bank. Only half the competitors advanced to the next round. Each audience was comprised of professionals in the bankruptcy and restructuring community, from firms including HLHZ, JP Morgan, and Northwestern Mutual, as well as several hedge funds.
The panelists played their parts with a great deal of authenticity; The creditors portrayed a genuine anger concerning their investment losses, while the bank was reluctant to continue funding what seemed to be a failing company. As advisors to the board of directors, it was the participants' job to convince these two groups to remain invested, rather than to force a liquidation of the company's assets. In addition, we had to take their concerns and incorporate them into our presentation in the second round to the board of the Company.
Despite being yelled at by the creditors, and having to come up with some creative reasons why the bank should stay in the game, the NYU team made it to the second round, where we presented to the board. Ultimately, we garnered a third-place finish, behind Stanford and Michigan (but more importantly, ahead of Wharton, Kellogg, and Chicago).
The experience was intense but rewarding. Even with the week of preparation time, the demands of the competition and changes required by the inputs from each panel meant that we put in two late nights, watching the sun rise before the second day of competition. Several memorable quotes followed us home from the competition, including one exasperated team member remarking to the board that their optimistic plan was "like putting a band-aid on a bleeding heart." At another point, after some serious debate as to the future of the company and the board's place within it, a board member pointedly asked "Well how about we just fire you?" Needless to say, it was a realistic competition.
We were happy with our finish, and were told that several of the judges felt that a first place finish was in order for NYU. Hopefully, a team from among the many qualified first-years will keep the flag raised and continue this fine tradition next year.