Amy McHale, Director of Experiential Learning
During the Spring 2011 semester, five MBA students from professor Tom Barkley’s, “Corporate Financial Policy & Strategy” class, developed a tangible understanding of mergers and acquisitions. This experiential learning project began after alumnus, Art Bentley, presented an opportunity for Whitman MBA students to identify and value potential targets for mergers and acquisitions. Bentley, prior to his position as Director of Business Development with H.J. Baker & Bro., Inc. (www.bakerbro.com), played an integral part in executing mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures at GE Commercial Finance for seven years.
Bentley visited the campus at the beginning of the semester and presented his company’s current situation and desire for profitable growth. To involve the students in experiential learning, Bentley asked the students to research and identify companies in the feed, fertilizer, or sulphur industries. Each team selected five companies and developed an adjacency scoring model to determine the best opportunities to leverage their core businesses and provide growth. The students then created a valuation model for their top target company by researching the cost of capital, financial statements, and cash flows of the selected companies.
Current MBA student, Christina Dove (’12 MBA), described this experience as challenging and rewarding. “Having the unique opportunity to participate in such a hands-on corporate finance project involving so many essential business skills- researching and ranking potential acquisition targets, compiling and analyzing financial data- provided me with a solid foundation of corporate finance concepts,” said Dove.
At the end of the semester, the students pitched their findings and recommendations to Bentley. Collectively, the students identified twenty-nine new companies for H.J. Baker, many of whom would provide international growth opportunity.
Bentley was impressed with the students and the products that they produced. “Not only did the students help provide solutions,” said Baker, “but the quality and relevance was top-notch. They certainly exceeded my expectations in many ways.”
With the help of Dr. Barkley’s facilitation in the development of relevant solutions, combined with the effort of Barkley’s students, H.J. Baker is currently evaluating the students’ recommendations as part of their business planning and growth strategy.
