...------------------------------------------------- Individual Final Project ------------------------------------------------- Case 2: “WorldCom, Inc.: Corporate Bond Issuance” Case Highlights This case is about the $37-billion bid for MCI Corp., by WorldCom – the United States’ second largest long distance phone company (after AT&T at the time). The purchase should come through by using its own stock to buy the public shares of MCI that did not belong to British Telecommunications (BT), and paying with cash the 20% stake BT held in MCI. In order to finance BT’s stake, WorldCom planned to issue the highest bond offering up to date in the markets of $6 billion. Also to be taken into account in this case, is the timing of the bond issuance, with some turmoil conditions in the bond and equity markets at the time due to the Asian crisis, the large volume of debt issues scheduled for issuance on the same week, and the pricing of the “jumbo” bond. For the remainder of this paper, I will analyze in detail each of these issues. WorldCom’s Background The company was born after the breakup of AT&T, in 1983, with the rise of long-distance telephone business. Bernie Ebbers, CEO, conducted a series of acquisitions which led LDDS (company’s name at the time – Long Distance Discount Services) to become the fourth-largest long-distance carrier in the USA. LDDS changed its name to WorldCom, in 1995, an outcome of its global presence in the USA. The big rise-up, however, was with the...
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...[pic] WorldCom Case Study FINC 621, Summer 2015 by Hailun Cao Mohammed Altuwaijri Papamagatte Diagne Qian Dou David Ballantine Yanchao Wu Strategic Analysis – Hailun Cao Bernie Ebbers, the chief executive officer, focused on acquisition business strategy. Major Acquisitions includes Advanced Telecommunications Corporation, IDB Communications group, Metromedia Communications Corporation and Resurgens, and Williams Telecommunications group (WilTel). All these firms perform different characteristics in the telecommunications industry. WorldCom faced some issues and WorldCom tried to manage these issues through the expansion business strategy. From the view of risk control, WorldCom met and solved challenges in the following aspects. Firstly, because of the increasing competition, increasing commoditization and low switching costs of long distance service, the long distance calls dropped obviously and long distance firms faced huge pressures under this circumstance. Therefore, WorldCom made acquisition of MCI in 1997. WorldCom made this decision through three main reasons. At first, since WorldCom was the No. 4 long distance provider and MCI was the No.2 long distance provider, the combination of the two firms could occupy 25% share in the U.S. long distance market. This situation consolidated WorldCom’s competiveness in such a depressing environment and decreased the risk in the long distance service market. In addition...
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...possible effect of such action in the company. CASE ANALYSIS This case analysis aims to answer the following problem: How should the company finance its plan to repurchase its outstanding common stock in order to enhance its shareholder value? The company will be less flexible if it would have a debt-equity ratio of 72%. But since the said D/E ratio would “still be moderate with respect to the industry”, MCI’s bond rating won’t go below a medium grade of BBB. MCI needs to unlevered and then re-lever the target company’s equity beta. Unlevering the target’s equity beta yields an estimated beta comparable to the other major competitors which have different debt structure (see Exhibit B). Thus, re-levering this equity beta to reflect MCI’s target capital structure yields the appropriate risk for MCI to use in estimating a cost of capital if ever the issuance of additional $ 2 billion debt is pursued (see Exhibit A). Comparing the unlevered beta of MCI to the other major players in the industry, the company is relatively riskier than the majority. As a result, the issuance of additional $ 2 B debt would further increase the level of risk of MCI, as reflected in the new WACC (see Exhibit C). Expected EPS will increase...
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...CHAPTER 1 INTERCORPORATE ACQUISITIONS AND INVESTMENTS IN OTHER ENTITIES ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS Q1-1 Complex organizational structures often result when companies do business in a complex business environment. New subsidiaries or other entities may be formed for purposes such as extending operations into foreign countries, seeking to protect existing assets from risks associated with entry into new product lines, separating activities that fall under regulatory controls, and reducing taxes by separating certain types of operations. Q1-2 The split-off and spin-off result in the same reduction of reported assets and liabilities. Only the stockholders’ equity accounts of the company are different. The number of shares outstanding remains unchanged in the case of a spin-off and retained earnings or paid-in capital is reduced. Shares of the parent are exchanged for shares of the subsidiary in a split-off, thereby reducing the outstanding shares of the parent company. Q1-3 The management of Enron appears to have used special-purpose entities to avoid reporting debt on its balance sheet and to create fictional transactions that resulted in reported income. It also transferred bad loans and investments to special-purpose entities to avoid recognizing losses in...
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...Causes, Prevention, and Notable Cases University of New Hampshire Honors Thesis in Accounting Kristin Kennedy ADMN 799 Professor Le (Emily) Xu Fall 2012 Table of Contents I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII. Background……………………………………………………………........1 a. What is accounting and what role does financial reporting serve?..........1 b. History of accounting standards………………………………………..2 c. Role of auditing………………………………………………………...5 Fraud……………………………………………………………………….6 a. Two types of fraud……………………………………………………..6 i. Misappropriation of Assets…………………………………….7 ii. Misrepresentation of Financial Statements…………………….7 b. Fraud Triangle………………………………………………………….8 c. What to look for in a fraudster…………………………………………9 Past Cases of Fraud……………………………………………………….10 a. WorldCom…………………………………………………………….11 b. Tyco International Ltd………………………………………………..15 c. Adelphia Communications Corporation…………………………....…17 Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002………………………………………...…....20 a. Analysis of SOX: Costs vs. Benefits…………………………………34 i. Interview of...
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...households. Economics growth is impossible without a well-functioning financial system. Financial markets: markets where financial securities, such as stocks and bonds, are bought and sold. A financial security is a document that states the terms under which funds pass from the buyers of the security (the lender) to the seller (the borrower). One type of financial market is the stock market. Stock: a financial security that represents partial ownership of a firm. Firms can raise funds by selling shakes of stock in a primary market. The original buyers of stocks may resell them in a secondary market, where most daily trading takes place. While shareholders may receive dividends (portions of a firm’s profits) from stocks, most people purchase stocks for the potential capital gains from selling a stock for more that they can paid for it. Firms do not receive funds from transactions （交易） in secondary markets. Another type of financial market is the bond market. Bond: a financial security that represents a promise to repay a fixed amount of funds Firms and governments running budget deficits (spending more than they receive in tax revenue) can borrow funds by selling bonds in a primary market. The seller of the bond promises to pay the buyer of the bond an interest payment each year for the term of the bond as well as a final payment of the amount of the loan (the principal) at the end of the term. As with stocks, the original buyers...
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...Università degli studi di torino | Rating agencies and financial speculation | An analysis of the protagonists of the world market | | Elisa Valenti | Matricola 711323 | | INDEX The protagonists of the world market | 2 | A particular source of power: rating agencies and country rating | 2 | Conflict of interest? | 4 | Other issues of concern * Barriers to entry and lack of competition * Transparency | 555 | The importance of reputation | 6 | What went wrong? | 7 | The need for regulation | 7 | Can we trust the rating agencies? * The Enron Case Study * The Parmalat Case Study | 889 | Are rating agencies guilty? | 12 | The sinister power of rating agencies | 13 | A world without rating agencies | 14 | Conclusions | 15 | References | 16 | The protagonists of the world market A rating agency is a private firm which publicly evaluates a company capacity to repay the debt issued. This capacity is classified using a scale that goes from a maximum of AAA and a minimum of DDD. Obviously the evaluation received influences the interests that a company has to pay to receive credit. Today the rating market is controlled by three giants, the so called “three sisters”: Moody’s Investor Service, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch . Till the 70s rating agencies were not making high profits, but today they are extremely relevant such that in 1996 the New York Times was writing that there were just two powers in the world, the United...
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...INTRODUCTION TO CAPITAL MARKETS What is investment banking? Investment banks act as intermediaries in capital markets, helping the matching of sellers and buyers of various securities and advising institutional investors, government and companies on their investment strategies, on their financing needs (helping them to raise money) and their acquisitions. Two main areas: (1) Securities or capital markets divisions: trading in the equity, fixed income ,FX and commodities markets and advising and intermediating for institutional investors in those markets. (2) Corporate Finance and public finance (often referred to as investment banking) advising corporations and governments on their financing needs, including the underwriting of securities, on their merger and acquisition activities, or on their restructuring. Securities and capital markets divisions Clients are usually * Institutional investors, corporates or public entities, not private clients; * Mutual funds asset managers; * Pension Fund asset managers; * The insurance companies; * Private Banks; * Hedge Funds; * The treasury departments of large banks or large companies. Capital markets divisions * Equity division: equity research, equity sales, equity trading on cash, flow derivatives and structured products * FIRC or FICC (Fixed Income, currencies and derivatives): * Fixed income cash products, interest and credit derivatives...
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...homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jfec Does it matter who pays for bond ratings? Historical evidence$ John (Xuefeng) Jiang a,n, Mary Harris Stanford b, Yuan Xie c a Eli Broad College of Business, Michigan State University, N252 Business Complex, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA M. J. Neeley School of Business, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX 76129, USA c Fordham University, 441E Fordham Road, Bronx, NY 10458, USA b a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 12 December 2010 Received in revised form 13 July 2011 Accepted 9 August 2011 Available online 7 April 2012 JEL classification: G18 G20 G28 Keywords: Credit ratings Investor pay Issuer pay Moody’s S&P abstract We test whether Standard and Poor’s (S&P) assigns higher bond ratings after it switches from investor-pay to issuer-pay fees in 1974. Using Moody’s rating for the same bond as a benchmark, we find that when S&P charges investors and Moody’s charges issuers, S&P’s ratings are lower than Moody’s. Once S&P adopts issuer-pay, its ratings increase and no longer differ from Moody’s. More importantly, S&P only assigns higher ratings for bonds that are subject to greater conflicts of interest, measured by higher expected rating fees or lower credit quality. These findings suggest that the issuer-pay model leads to higher ratings. & 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction This paper investigates whether charging bond issuers for credit ratings leads to higher ratings. The three major credit...
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...brokerage. Lehman’s became the major brokers for the purchase and sale of cotton in Montgomery and it’s surrounding areas. By 1858 Lehman Brothers had opened up an office in New York and expanded it’s commodities trading in addition to obtaining a foothold into the powerful New York financial community. After the Civil War passed Lehman Brothers drew most of their attention to their New York office and with it the financial arm of their business. By 1870 Lehman’s had helped establish the first cotton exchange and also spearheaded the creation of the Coffee and Petroleum Exchange. Lehman maintained ties with their southern roots and subsequently became the primary fiscal agent to the state of Alabama. Lehman handled the issuance of Alabama’s bonds overcoming many challenges due...
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...INDIAN FINANCIAL SYSTEM (IFS) – 3RD ASSIGNMENT 1. WHAT ARE MUTUAL FUNDS? -Mutual funds are investment strategies that allow you to pool your money together with other investors to purchase a collection of stocks, bonds, or other securities that might be difficult to recreate on your own. This is often referred to as a portfolio. The price of the mutual fund, also known as its net asset value (NAV), is determined by the total value of the securities in the portfolio, divided by the number of the fund’s outstanding shares. This price fluctuates based on the value of the securities held by the portfolio at the end of each business day. Mutual fund investors do not actually own the securities in which the fund invests; they only own shares in the fund itself. In the case of actively managed mutual funds, the decisions to buy and sell securities are made by one or more portfolio managers, supported by teams of researchers. 2. SEBI REGULATIONS FOR MUTUAL FUNDS? - Unit Trust of India was the first mutual fund set up in India in the year 1963. In early 1990s, Government allowed public sector banks and institutions to set up mutual funds. In the year 1992, Securities and exchange Board of India (SEBI) Act was passed. The objectives of SEBI are:-to protect the interest of investors in securities and to promote the development of and to regulate the securities market. As far as mutual funds are concerned, SEBI formulates policies and regulates the mutual funds to protect the...
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...Ian W Marsh The effect of lenders' credit risk transfer activities on borrowing firms' equity returns Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 31 • 2006 Suomen Pankki Bank of Finland P.O.Box 160 FI-00101 HELSINKI Finland + 358 10 8311 http://www.bof.fi Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 31 • 2006 Ian W Marsh* The effect of lenders’ credit risk transfer activities on borrowing firms’ equity returns The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Bank of Finland. * Cass Business School, London, and Bank of Finland. E-mail: i.marsh@city.ac.uk. This paper was written while the author was visiting the Research Unit of the Bank of Finland. The Bank’s hospitality was exemplary and I am grateful to participants at the Research Unit’s Summer Workshop, the Bank of Finland Economics Seminar, Iftekhar Hasan, Tuomas Takalo, and Wolf Wagner for comments. Susan Yuska at the Chicago Fed was very helpful in guiding me through the Bank Holding Company Database. http://www.bof.fi ISBN 978-952-462-340-7 ISSN 0785-3572 (print) ISBN 978-952-462-341-4 ISSN 1456-6184 (online) Helsinki 2006 The effect of lenders’ credit risk transfer activities on borrowing firms’ equity returns Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 31/2006 Ian W Marsh Monetary Policy and Research Department Abstract Although innovative credit risk transfer techniques help to allocate risk more optimally,...
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...9-204-066 REV: FEBRUARY 11, 2004 MALCOLM P. BAKER ALISON BERKLEY WAGONFELD Dividend Policy at Linear Technology It was April 2003 and Paul Coghlan was pulling together his notes for Linear Technology’s board meeting the following day. As chief financial officer of the Silicon Valley semiconductor company, Coghlan was responsible for making a recommendation about whether or not Linear should increase its dividend this quarter. Coghlan and Linear’s CEO Robert Swanson were pleased with the company’s third-quarter financials for fiscal year 2003, but sales and net income still remained substantially below Linear’s record levels set in 2001. In addition, the technology industry was still emerging from a recessionary environment and it was unclear how strong business would be for the remainder of the year. Linear Technology Corporation Headquartered in Milpitas, California, Linear was founded in 1981 by Robert Swanson. Under his leadership, the company focused on designing, manufacturing, and marketing integrated circuits (semiconductors) that were used in various electronic applications such as cellular telephones, digital cameras, complex medical devices, and navigation systems. Linear’s customers spanned numerous industries and no single customer accounted for more than 5% of its business. In 2002, the communications industry accounted for 33% of Linear’s business, computers 27%, automotive 6%, and the remaining 34% was spread across many different applications...
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...Executive Summary Apple Inc., formerly Apple Computer, Inc., is a multinational corporation that creates consumer electronics, smart phones, tablets, personal computers, computer software, and commercial servers, and is a digital distributor of media content. Apple's core product lines are the iPhone smartphone, iPad tablet computer, iPod portable media players, and Macintosh computer line. Founders, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak effectively created Apple Computer on April 1, 1976, with the release of the Apple I, and incorporated the company on January 3, 1977, in Cupertino, California. Apple experienced modest, but above average growth from its founding until the mid-2000s when the popularity of its iPods and iTunes Store were joined by Apple’s release of the first iPhones. This combination, along with then-CEO Steve Jobs’ iconic leadership, catapulted Apple to successes rarely seen as it became the largest publicly traded company in the world by 2012. Our financial analysis of Apple revealed many things, not the least of which is the simple fact that Apple is a well-run, efficient, innovative company. Over the last three years, Apple realized a consistent positive trend in well over half of the twenty-two key financial ratios analyzed, highlighted by improvements in all profitability and inventory management ratios. It kept pace with the growth experienced in the technology and consumer electronics industries, despite significant gains in market share by giants...
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...Msc Finance & Investment Core Course I: Corporate Finance & Value Creation Lecture 1 3 Modigliani & Miller (1958) ‘The Cost of Capital, Corporation Finance and the Theory of Investment’ 3 Modigliani & Miller 2 6 Modigliani and Miller 3 7 Modigliani & Miller – 1958 4 12 Fama & French (1998) ‘Taxes, Financing Decisions, and Firm Value’ 18 FAMA FRENCH 2 20 Fama & French 3 21 Fama & French – 1998 4 22 Graham (2000) ‘How Big Are the Tax Benefits of Debt?’ 25 GRAHAM (2000) 2 28 Graham 3 29 How big are the tax benefits of debt? John Graham – 2002 4 29 Lecture 2 32 Myers (1984) ‘The Capital Structure Puzzle’ 32 MYERS (1984) The Capital Structure Puzzle 2 36 Myers 3 39 The capital structure puzzle Myers – 1984 4 40 Andrade & Kaplan (1998) ‘How Costly is Financial (Not Economic) Distress? Evidence from Highly Leveraged Transactions that Became Distress’ 44 Kaplan 2 46 Andrade & Kaplan (1998) 3 51 Andrade & Kaplan – 1998 4 52 Lecture 3 56 Myers & Maljuf (1984) ‘Corporate Financing and Investment Decisions when Firms have Information that Investors Do Not Have’ 56 Myers and Majluf 2 61 Myers & Mailuf (1984) 3 66 Myers & Majluf – 1984 4 68 Frank & Goyal (2007) ‘Trade-off and Pecking Order Theories of Debt 74 Frank, Murray and Goyal, Vidhan 2 75 Frank & Goyal (2007) 3 83 Trade-off and pecking order theories of debt Frank & Goyal – 2007 4 85 Lecture 4 92 Ross (1977) ‘The Determination of Financial Structure: the Incentive-Signaling Approach’ 92 ROSS (1977)...
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