The Stern Opportunity

Stern second-year students Chris Cramer, Denis Cranstoun, Justin Kenlon, and I began the 2010 ACG Mergers and Acquisitions Case Competition with a singular mantra, “Beat Cornell.” That mantra guided them from the punishing all-nighters to the grueling inquisitions at the hands of mergers and acquisitions professionals during the final round. Through the whole process, the mantra pushed them to iterate more often and analyze more deeply.

As it is more commonly known, the ACG Cup is a case study competition bringing together students from top MBA programs across the country to gain real world expertise dealing with topics such as mergers and acquisitions, investment banking, financial advisory and private equity. This year, the competition sponsored by the New York chapter of ACG brought together over 400 students to compete for the title. ACG, which is an acronym for the Association for Corporate Growth, is a global organization bringing together over 12,000 mergers and acquisitions dealmakers through their 54 chapters in North America, Europe and Asia. More information on ACG can be found on their website at www.acg.org. same team of  competed in last year’s inaugural ACG Cup. After competing valiantly in the NYU round, we were invited to the posh Metropolitan Club to present their leveraged buyout analysis to a group of investment bankers and transactional professionals. Despite delivering what many considered to be a superior presentation, the team lost to Cornell based upon a lack of assumed management ownership stake in the analysis. Instead of sulking, we went to the Half Pint, drank beer out of the second place cup and plotted revenge.

The

Anxiety and uncertainty clouded the NYU round of the 2010 ACG Cup. After working between classes and around the clock, snow storms delayed the round by weeks. Teams made final tweaks to their presentations and got underway. After bearing the weight of a technical loss in the 2009 competition, a rules violation finally swung in favor of this year’s ultimate victors. An excellent challenger was disqualified due to the fact that not each group member presented. It looked as if the team would have an opportunity to avenge the bitter 2009 defeat.

After the delay of the first round, the second round came hot on its heels. The team took the analysis and valuation that was completed in the first round and amended it for a private equity transaction. Yours truly led the modeling portion of the process and Justin Kenlon logged a tremendous number of hours perfecting the presentation. Chris Cramer and Denis Cranstoun’s work would be completed on April 22nd when their oratorical skills would be put to the test.

The team boarded the train from NYU to the 49th floor of the New York Times building in midtown. The other New York area MBA programs invited to attend include Columbia, Baruch, Hofstra, Pace, Fordham and of course, the dreaded Cornell. After tensely pacing the beautiful lobby of Legg Mason awaiting the call to present, the team eyed Cornell across the room. Pleasantries were exchanged, but one could cut the tension with a knife.
It came time to present and NYU gave a forceful and insightful analysis of the key issues. The bankers attempted to poke holes in the analysis to no avail. NYU had covered every angle and analyzed so many scenarios that they had a convincing answer for every question the bankers could ask. A wine and cheese reception followed and the rivalry was strong. The head of the New York chapter of ACG gave a speech and announced, third place. Neither NYU nor Cornell was the third place team. Second place was announced and again, neither NYU nor Cornell was announced. One of the rivals seemed likely to be victorious and the other banished to ACG Cup obscurity. Looks were exchanged across the room as the winner was announced. In dramatic fashion, NYU had taken the cup!

Do not forget to stop by the Half Pint early and often to offer congratulations  as we sip, this year, from the full-sized ACG Cup.

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