First prize in the University of Maryland Mergers & Acquisitions Competition was awarded to a team from Columbia Business School made up of MBA students Tim Brandt ’09, Gary Kats ’08 and Stephen Walker ’09.
The event, held October 11–12 at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, required students to present strategies for a hypothetical M&A case involving an investment banking client and a top homebuilder.
Within less than 24 hours, teams received case information, performed extensive research using real-time financial data and developed their proposals. Each team then presented its recommendations to a panel of judges, which included executives from title sponsors Credit Suisse and Lehman Brothers.
“To get their arms around the information in a really quick period of time and to be thoughtful in their presentation was just unbelievable,” said Lisa E. Beeson, Lehman Brothers managing director and final-round judge. “I was very impressed with all the teams.”
The Columbia Business School team took home $5,000 for its first-place finish; second-prize winners from the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Business were awarded $2,500; and $1,000 went to the third-prize winners from the University of Rochester’s Simon School of Management.
Other competitors included MBA teams from Carnegie Mellon University, National University of Singapore, Purdue University, University of Chicago, University of Maryland, University of Virginia and Yale University.
###