COURSE NUMBER: EWMBA237.2

This course is dual-listed with the Full-time MBA Program,

COURSE TITLE: Private Equity: Value Creation

UNITS OF CREDIT: 2 units

INSTRUCTORS: Asiff Hirji and Peter Goodson

E-MAIL ADDRESS: Asiff Hirji- hirjia@berkeley.edu
Peter Goodson- goodson@haas.berkeley.edu  

CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATION:  bCourses

MEETING DATES: Mondays, 6-9:30PM on 8/29, 9/12, 9/19, 9/26, 10/3, 10/17, 10/24, 11/7, 11/14, 11/28

PREREQUISITE(S): EWMBA203 Introduction to Finance-

CLASS FORMAT: Combination of lectures, cases, interactive discussion and guest speakers; Ten Sessions on Monday nights 6 to 9 pm- dates TBA

REQUIRED READINGS: Text, articles and cases

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: Group project presentations (oral and written), case write-ups and class participation

CAREER FIELD: The course is designed for those with an active interest in private equity.  Students pursuing entrepreneurship, turnaround leadership and corporate executive management; as well as finance and non-finance majors looking at careers in private equity, investment banking, investment management and management consulting will find the course directly applicable to their profession.  PE firms and their portfolio companies represent the largest clients of investment banking and consulting firms today as well as one of the largest pools of opportunity for entrepreneurs, turnaround specialists and executive management.

ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES: The course will focus on how the private equity industry creates value for its investors through careful selection of its investments, financial structuring, performance motivated corporate governance and effecting operational improvements. What are the investment attributes that make for an attractive investment? How are potential investments valued and bid? What are the key value levers? Additionally the course explores the human factors: how do I convince others in deal negotiations? Sellers frequently mislead, how do I find out the real story before I buy? The human factor is significant. What KPI’s and incentives will drive value and performance maximizing potential?

The course is focused primarily on management buyout deals, the largest category of private equity transactions.  In addition, strategies of value creation and risk mitigation in growth capital investments and in emerging markets are revealed. The course will also chronicle the disruptive nature and evolution of private equity and expose the issues that face both the LP investor and the General Partner.

Students will learn how to evaluate investment opportunities from a private equity perspective as well as explore the proven value creation recipes of the top performers. Students will make a simulated presentation to an investment committee on a prospective acquisition of a company - reviewing the investment thesis, valuation, financing, business plan, potential returns and exit considerations.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:

Asiff Hirji
Asiff Hirji is the founder of Inflekxion LLC, a private investment and performance enhancement firm and currently serves at the Chief Restructuring Officer of Hewlett Packard.  Asiff was formerly a Partner with TPG Capital with a specialization in Financial Services, Technology and E-Commerce. Prior to TPG, Asiff was President of TD AMERITRADE and was previously a Partner at Bain & Company. He received his MBA from The University of Western Ontario and his Bachelor's degree in Computer Science at The University of Calgary.
 

Peter Goodson
Peter Goodson is a pioneer in the private equity discipline as an early stage partner at Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. One of the first management buyout firms founded in 1978, the firm has purchased and transformed performance at over 65 large companies. Among the more than $100 billion worth of acquisitions through which CD&R assisted managements in enhancing value or replaced management to run the businesses themselves are prominent examples such as Lexmark (the former IBM Information Products business), the Uniroyal-Goodrich Tire Company and Hertz Rental Car. To highlight leadership capability, Partners of the firm today include Jack Welch the former CEO of GE. In emerging markets Mr. Goodson serves as a senior advisor to Tata Capital’s PE funds and is a longtime advisor to the first PE firm in Vietnam Mekong Capital.

Before joining Clayton, Dubilier & Rice,  Mr.  Goodson was a Manager Director at Kidder Peabody & Co., where he founded the M&A Group at the age of 27. He personally participated in over 800 corporate assignments. Mr. Goodson was chosen by his partners to negotiate the $600 million sale of Kidder to General Electric, which he did, setting a record for the highest relative price paid for an investment bank on record.

Mr.  Goodson has taught as Haas for the last eight years. He has also taught or lectured at Harvard, Wharton, Kellogg, Tuck, Stanford, NYU Stern, and Columbia. He was awarded the Earl F. Cheit Outstanding Teaching award by the students of Haas School of Business for several years running. He was also elected a fellow of Dartmouth’s Tuck Center for Private Equity and Entrepreneurship and holds the position of Distinguished Fellow at INSEAD in its Global Private Equity Initiative.

For a flavor of what the Peter Goodson’s classroom is like tap the following link for an article on his M&A class. His style for this PE class will be much the same.
http://newsroom.haas.berkeley.edu/article/master-art-deal-making-and-creating-value