The Private Equity Competition event started with a symposium at ABN AMRO Bank’s headquarters in Amsterdam on 18 November in which restructuring experts presented their experiences. Speakers included Frédéric Verhoeven (partner, Law firm Houthoff Buruma), Bart van Kersbergen (restructuring at ABN-AMRO), Gert Jan van der Hoeven (founder and managing partner, H2 Equity Partners), and Annemarie Jorritsma (chair, Dutch Private Equity Association, NVP).
Practical sides of restructuring
“The speakers of the symposium were very inspiring and they gave a very practical side,” said Indian MBA participant Jacob Neroth. “I also learned how differently people value the same company. When talking to various teams, I realised the other factors people consider to value a company and understand the risk of every strategy we had.”
This first day concluded with a networking dinner for students and professionals in private equity, finance and academia.
Valuing distressed assets
Each team had submitted a proposal for the restructuring of a bankrupt Dutch chain of department stores prior to the competition. RSM’s team comprised five students from RSM’s International Full-time MBA Class of 2017: Jacob Neroth, Tochukwu Tj Ezeoke, Mimi Shiryu Chou, Elda Indrawati Matualaga, and Septian Budi Waluyan.
On Saturday 19 November all participants gathered at PwC in Amsterdam where each school presented their bid for the assets of the company, a three-year strategic plan including financial projections, and a social strategy for all involved stakeholders.
Incorporating social responsibility
“I really enjoyed working on the case with my teammates,” said Taiwanese RSM MBA student Mimi Shiryu Chou. “Also, the lectures really opened my eyes and gave me new perspectives when looking at the cases.” Chou said the competition gave her the chance to understand mergers and acquisition on distressed assets, and learn about social responsibility. “In distressed assets cases, acquiring companies often overlook social responsibility. From other team’s presentation, I got ideas about how to incorporate social responsibility into the strategy.”
Top business schools
In total, MBA teams from 15 top business schools participated in the 2016 Private Equity Competition: IE Business School, IESE Business School, IMD Business School, London Business School, ESADE Business School, Cambridge Judge Business School, China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), Columbia Business School, SDA Bocconi, HEC Paris, INSEAD Business School, RSM, Manchester Business School, Rotman School of Management, and TIAS School for Business and Society.
Ultimately, IMD Business School won the first place, followed by IESE Business School and IE Business School. The winning team won a money prize of €5,000.
The jury was this year comprised of financial professionals and advisory companies in the private equity field. Jury members included Hans Haanappel (professor for private equity at RSM, and independent M&A advisor), Jonathan Kahn (CFO, America Today), Luc Kicken (assistant VP, Partners Group), Marc van Voorst (deputy director, Dutch Private Equity Association, NVP), Martin Kerkhof (deal strategy and data analytics, PwC), Michiel Jonkman (independent strategy, investment and M&A advisor), Peter Wolterman (partner, PwC), Thomas Maurel (managing partner, Valery Capital), and Vishnu Amble (private capital investor, Infrastructure & Growth Equity).
