Contact: John Hartgen
(703) 739-0800
color='#0000ff'>jhartgen@abiworld.org
NORTHWESTERN
UNIVERSITY WINS FIFTH ANNUAL CORPORATE RESTRUCTURING
COMPETITION
size='3'>November 11, 2008, Alexandria, Va.
size='3'>— A team from the Northwestern University Kellogg
Graduate School of Management won the Bettina M. Whyte Trophy at the
Fifth Annual ABI Corporate Restructuring Competition, held Nov. 6-7 at
Northwestern University in Chicago. The second-year MBA student winners
also shared a $6,000 cash prize. Students from the
size='3'>Dartmouth College Tuck School of Business
size='3'>won the second-place award of $3,500, with the
size='3'>University of Illinois College of Business
size='3'>receiving the $2,500 prize for third place.
The competition, which is
co-sponsored by ABI and Houlihan Lokey, an international investment
banking firm, provided 11 of the nation’s top MBA programs with a
unique opportunity to learn by solving a real-world restructuring case
problem. The students had a week to “solve” the problem and
prepare comprehensive presentations showing their operational and
financial plans before panels of judges representing a mock board of
directors and bondholders, with a final round before mock first and
second lienholders.
Past winners of the
Corporate Restructuring Competition include the University of
Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business, New York University Stern
School of Business and the Stanford Graduate Business School.
Northwestern also won the Third Corporate Restructuring Competition in
January 2007. Other schools in this year’s competition in addition
to the finalists and past years’ winners included the
size='3'>Purdue University Krannert School of Management,
size='3'>University of California-Berkeley Haas School of
Management, University of Chicago Graduate School
of Business, University of Virginia Darden School
of Business, University of Michigan Ross School of Business and Notre
Dame University Mendoza School of Business. Prof.
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Tim Thompson
size='3'>of the Kellogg School of Management serves as the lead faculty
advisor to the competition.
In addition to the case
presentations, the competition featured a sponsored networking dinner
keynoted by ABI Executive Director Sam Gerdano,
size='3'>who spoke on bankruptcy issues in the new Congress. An awards
luncheon also followed the final round of the
competition.
ABI acknowledges the
commitment of Houlihan Lokey to the competition, led by
face='Times New Roman' size='3'>Matt Neiman
size='3'>, Scott
Jackson, Andrew
Turnbull, Ryan Sandahl and
John Colling
size='3'>in the firm’s financial restructuring practice, who
prepared the case problem.
Some top bankruptcy
practitioners and financial advisers served as competition judges,
including: U.S. Trustee
size='3'>Diana Adams (New York),
Bruce Blackwell
of MBIA Insurance Corp. (Armonk,
N.Y.), Michael
Buenzow of FTI Palladium Partners
(Chicago), Rick
Chesley of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky &
Walker (Chicago), Acting U.S. Trustee Roberta DeAngelis
(Philadelphia),
size='3'>Brad Erens of Jones Day
(Chicago), Penny
Friedman of CIT Corporate Finance
(Chicago), Ed
Green of Foley & Lardner (Chicago),
J. Eric Ivester of
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
(Chicago), Suzanne
Kelly of the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp.
(Washington, D.C.),
size='3'>Melissa Kibler Knoll of Mesirow
Financial Consulting (Chicago),
size='3'>Tom Luther of Prudential
(Chicago), Thomas
Morrow of AlixPartners LLC (Southfield,
Mich.), Jon
Nash of CRG Partners (Houston),
Matt Nieman
size='3'>of Houlihan Lokey (Chicago), Sandra Reese
size='3'>of Reese Partners, LLC (Chicago), Rebecca Roof of Alix
Partners LLC (New York),
size='3'>Nate Van Duzer of Fidelity
Investments (Boston),
size='3'>David Shapiro of Houlihan Lokey
(Chicago) and Michael Zorich
of Principal Global Investors, LLC
(Chicago).
To find out more about the
Corporate Restructuring Competition, please visit
href='www.abiworld.org/crc'>
size='3'>www.abiworld.org/crc
size='3'>.
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ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization
dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency.
ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased
analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes more than
11,700 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders,
turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a
forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional
information on ABI, visit www.abiworld.org. For additional conference
information, visit
href='http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html'>
color='#0000ff'>http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html.