​COURSE NUMBER: EWMBA236L.1
This course is dual-listed with the Full-time MBA Program,

COURSE TITLE: Private Equity Leveraged Buyout

UNITS OF CREDIT: 2 units

INSTRUCTORS: Asiff Hirji and Peter Goodson

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

CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATION:  bCourses

MEETING DATES: Mondays, ten Sessions on Monday nights 6 to 9:30PM. Dates below (updated 8/11/2017). Dates may be subject to change.

PREREQUISITE(S): EWMBA203 Introduction to Finance

CLASS FORMAT: Combination of lectures, cases, interactive discussion and guest speakers; 

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 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 minority 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 SKETCHES:

Asiff Hirji is the founder of Inflexion 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 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 70 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, operating executives at the firm include former CEO’s Jack Welch of GE and Sir Terry Leahy of Tesco. 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.

Prior to Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, Peter 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.
Peter has taught as Haas for the last nine 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 several times 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 and Emerging Market Institute sponsored by the Singaporean Government.
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​