Your written assignment is as follows:

1.    Locate a publicly traded company in an industry that interests you.  Find a publicly traded competitor which is suitable for a merger or acquisition with this firm.

2.      Write a ten page double spaced paper (not including exhibits) on why the company should be acquired and what purchase price should be paid.  In addition to a hard copy, a copy of your paper on disk is required.  The disk label should include your topic and all members of your group.  Your analysis should include the real reasons behind the merger and not the standard answers.  Major topics should include:  A brief background of the industry which the company operates, a background on the company and the management team, the acquisition purchase price (you may want to include a base purchase price and the maximum purchase price your firm would be willing to pay), what makes this merger a good fit, a brief strategy on how the company will operate after the merger, and how the deal would be financed.

3.    You have an enormous amount of material to use for this project.  Annual Reports and 10Ks can be obtained by contacting the companys Investor Services Department. 

4.    Prepare your presentation as though it was before the Board of Directors of the company.  The class will be asking specific questions about your analysis, so be prepared.

5.    Group participation by each member is critical to the success of the group.  Therefore, each group member will evaluate each of the other members.  I will provide each member with an evaluation form.

Two of the major evaluation criteria for the paper are:
1)    How well do you apply the financial concepts and analysis for your proposed acquisition.
2)    The quality and originality of the recommendations (and how well they tie to your analysis) of the company.
3)    The quality of your twenty minute presentation with two analytical questions from the class.

The paper must follow APA Format. The maximum length of the paper is 15 double spaced pages, excluding references and abstract. You may attach as many pages as appendixes of data, tables, etc. as you need. A financial model with a discounted cash flow valuation is required and should be included in the paper to support your analysis.