Your client, REA, is a reinsurance company.
REA recently acquired another reinsurance company (approximatively same size): the choice of this company was notably based on its product portfolio as well as its market presence which appeared complement with REA.
However, the acquisition is not well received by the market. The acquisition price is considered too high and the transaction has not been well graded. REA management asks you to evaluate the transaction.
This is an interviewer-led case. It is split into two parts.
The first part describes more qualitative problems and includes open questions to force the interviewee into thinking about the problem and possible solutions.
The second part deals with quantitative calculations based on the previous part. The interviewee should conduct his own calculations and solve the questions.
The two companies are regionally complementary, so the acquisition generally makes sense.
$550,000 or 7% of the total costs can potentially be saved through the acquisition.
This is an interviewer-led case. Please share the questions outlined here with the interviewee at the given moment.
The interviewee should understand the market and ask questions to get a good grasp of the client problem. Possible questions:
Insure insurance companies
What are the revenue streams?
Number of clients * premiums (%) * price of original contracts
Why this acquisition?
Ensure revenues, growth, presence in Asia, complementarity of firms
The interviewee should come up with a structured answer covering the main issues at stake. The idea is to give an overview of the companies and the interest of the transaction between them. It also tests the abilities of the interviewee to create excitement and interest for the topic at hand to a third person.
A possible answer would be:
1. Company
2. Market
3. Financing
The interviewee should come up with a structured answer, which shows a good understanding of the context.
Possible answer:
Benefits revenue side:
Benefits cost side:
The first step should be the identification of the companies’ costs, relevant to the reinsurance industry.
Possible answer:
It is now interesting, how the cost structures of the two companies compare. On interviewee’s request you will provide him/her with the following information:
With these numbers the interviewee can start his/her calculations in the next section.
Headquarter costs
Eligible for synergies: Yes!
REA: 10% * 4,000,000 = $400,000
Acquired company: 20% * $3,600,000 = $720,000
Total = $1,120,000 (30% = $336,000 for simplification: $350,000)
Staff costs (excludes HQ)
Eligible for synergies: Rather not.
Real estate
Eligible for synergies: Arguable, assume - due to little regional overlap - not.
IT costs
Eligible for synergies: Yes!
REA: 90% * $4,000,000 * 10% = $360,000 (costs in regions * total cost * share of IT costs)
Acquired Company: 80% * $3,600,000 * 10% = $288,000
Total = $650,000 (30% = $195,000 for simplification: $200,000)
Travel costs
Eligible for synergies: rather not.
The transaction does indeed allow cost savings due to synergies. Since there is no information given on the acquisition price, at this point no evaluation can be made regarding the potentially high acquisition costs.
Total costs to be saved due to synergies: $350,000 + $ 200,000 = $550,000
$550,000 / 7,600,000 = 7% of total cost reduction.
Q: Please describe a potential way to determine whether the trancaction price was reasonable or not!
More questions to be added by you, interviewer!
You never want to use a pre-thought out framework in a case, so I would throw out any notions of having anything ready. What you'll find is the case will be laid out in a way which means that you don'... (more)
Eugene, some really good questions in here!Let me try to address them. First, can you 'overthink'? Yes ofcourse! I am not sure this was really the issue in your particular case though: sometimes, i... (more)
Hi Jyotishman, as for structuring, the best preparation I found for math-intensive case has been on consulting handbooks of top MBA school. In particular, I would suggest the following: Downl... (more)
Sure, always use 10^power instead of zeros Example: 300x9000 = 3*10ˆ2 x 9*10ˆ3=3x9*10ˆ(2+3)=27*10ˆ5 Handwrittenit looks not that complicated. If you get used to writing all the numbers that w... (more)
Hi there, Let me chime in here. First, try to think of this problem in terms of the expected value of the candidate drug: Expected Value = Likelihood of success * Present Value (in case of su... (more)
We explain and give tips on how to understand and analyze graphs, charts and data presented by interviewer to candidates in case interviews.
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