Case study Caterpillar Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Case study Caterpillar - Essay Example Hence, community services were not in its agenda in the initial years of its establishment in the city of Piracicaba in Brazil. (Griesse, 39) Piracicaba is located in the deep interior of the state of Piracicaba which is the most industrialized as well as agriculturally advanced area of Brazil. Caterpillar entered the city of Piracicaba in 1970s as the first international firm setting up a business there. The setting up of a branch of a internationally known firm like Caterpillar came as a surprise to the city as the time when the big corporate house of United States made its entry into the city, the city was encountering a lot of economic and political problems. The decision of setting up business of Caterpillar in Piracicaba of Brazil under such turbulent economic and political scenario was not, however, random. A number of factors induced the world leader in the construction business and in the production of mining equipments, Caterpillar, to venture into the city of Piracicaba. Actually the location of the city and its small town environment attracted the executives of the firm to set up their branch in    Piracicab a. Apart from these, the officials from Piracicaba also undertook huge effort to convince the firm to set up a business there by saying that the process of industrialization could only solve the problems facing the city. (Griesse, 39, 40, 41)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In its initial years, Caterpillar went through a number of challenges in the form of several social and political movements that took place in Brazil in late 1970s and early 1980s. During this turbulent socio-political scenario, the company put its major focus on strengthening its feet in the city. Hence, it was little responsive to the process of volatile developments of the city in its social and political spheres. During its initial years of establishments, the company found it beneficial for its

Marketing Management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Marketing Management - Assignment Example It not only has non-stop aircrafts to other Middle-East countries but also has huge number of connecting flights to other countries across the globe. The network of connection by the company stretches from Europe to Asia with its presence in 29 countries and connecting more than 45 cities with a total of 34 fleets of aircrafts. Along with country’s vision of â€Å"Vision 2030†, Gulf Air also has its vision lined on the same line. The company’s strategy is to build a commercially sustainable, efficient airline which effectively serves to the people of Bahrain and also helps in the growth of the economy of the country representing its good image in the global world. Based on its strong strategy of growing at a fast pace the company has its main focus on three core areas which are providing a superior and more consistent product to the customer, a well-targeted and good expansion in the international network and third to become a modern and more efficient aviation c ompany that will provide good value for money to the customers and also will look to optimize value. Having a constant growth in the business operation the company has moved forward in a big way and in 2012 the company was been awarded with Silver Effie for building an effective and innovative brand in Bahrain. Though being in the global market from so many years the goal of the company has remained unchanged and its commitment towards bringing the latest technology in aviation industry is very well known, and its brand image has also increased by its hallmark Aviation hospitality. The company’s strong strategies to provide the best service have become the flagship for the company and the company is well known in the global market because of its high level of service and hospitality. In this report it can be seen how the company has utilised all its resources and capabilities in the best possible way to grow at such a fast rate and also the marketing strategies that are been used by the company

Slavery as a Cause of the Civil War Research Paper

Slavery as a Cause of the Civil War - Research Paper Example Finally, the expansion westward was a truly strong factor as poor whites migrated from the South to where they could get free land and slavery became a hot issue in the new territories. Even the personal political ambitions of the major figures of the time played a part in creating the atmosphere which finally resulted in the War Between the States. Centering such debates around states rights remains provocative, especially among "neo-Confederates." But, according to Dew, "The secessionists of 1860-61 certainly talked much more openly about slavery than present-day neo-Confederates seem willing to do" (p. 10). (Decredico) So, although slavery was at the root of the war, it was not the root cause. It simply figured into most of the other causes. There is a great deal of disagreement upon the root causes of this war, but it boils down to one simple point, according to Basler , â€Å"The ultimate cause of the Civil War was simply human disagreement, which could not be, or rather was not, resolved by non† violent means. Its roots went at least as deep as the American Revolution, and could be traced even deeper into human history if the effort promised to give any better understanding for the present purpose, which it does not. Mans fundamental disagreement has always been about who shall have what and who shall rule whom, and how and why. (Basler 3) In fact, it is this factor upon which all governments are built and why they are maintained. The War for Constitutional Liberty, the War for Nationality, the War for Southern Nationality, the War for Southern Independence, the Second American Revolution, the War for States Rights, Mr. Lincolns War, the War Against Slavery, the War for Abolition, the Southern Rebellion, the War of the Rebellion, the War for Southern Rights, the War of the Southern Planters, the Civil War, Americas Civil War, the War Between the States, the Civil War Between the States, the War Against

Egyptian art Essay Example for Free

Egyptian art Essay In Egyptian art, style is everything. In the Egyptian Art we have examined, we see striking similarities in the objects d’art that are included in this view. One thing that we can see in all the art works that we have seen is that the style remains consistent throughout the history of Egypt. The view of this writer is to look at each work and compare it to other works later in Egypt’s history. To that end, we will examine four separate works—the Palette of King Narmer, which was predynastic, the tomb of Ti at Saqqara which is of the Fifth Dynasty, the Portrait of Ni’Ankhesut, which is from the early Sixth Dynasty, and finally the Funerary Stele of Iamu, from the First Intermediate period. Each of these unique works has their own similarities to each other and their own unique differences. Three of the works are worked in limestone, which was a primary medium of Egyptian art, especially when it came to tomb or funerary art. The fourth is in stone, and was used to hold makeup and was intricately carved with a well for that express purpose. The first work that this writer will examine is the Palette of King Narmer. This work is done in what is probably basalt or some other stone, as it is not done in the soft limestone that was common in other Egyptian art forms. Egyptologists are unsure exactly what event this depicts, but what we can see is that King Narmer is the largest figure on the palette. On the front of the palette Narmer is depicted leading an army and slaying an opposing army. The opposing army is dead and decapitated, with their heads between their legs. This is pictured in the top third of the palette. In the middle third of the palette is a round depression made up of the entwined necks of two cats. This indented area is where eye makeup would have been placed. In the bottom third we see a warrior fighting a bull, a common theme in early Egyptian art. It should be noted here that the cats with the entwined heads is a distinctly Mesopotamian feature, showing the influence of the Middle Eastern art forms on early Egyptian art. On the back of the palette, we see a large figure who appears to be Narmer, wearing the crown of Upper Egypt. He appears to be subduing an enemy, who appears to be the leader of Lower Egypt. This is obviously meant to symbolize the supremacy of Upper Egypt over Lower Egypt. We notice from the position of the figures that every figure is in the profile position, but the arms are facing forward. This shows early on the foundations of Egyptian art, mainly, the consistency of keeping a majority of the body in profile, while only putting arms and chest in full frontal view. We also notice that on both sides of the palette, Narmer is the largest of the figures, making it clear that the palette is about him and his accomplishments. This is also a recurring theme in Egyptian art—the making of the main figure larger than other figures in the work. This assures the viewer that they are aware of who the main subject is. The second work that we are going to examine is the tomb of Ti at Saqqara. Again, we see that Ti is the largest figure in the work. This tomb relief is in color, which sets it apart from the other works we have examined. It probably retains its color due to the fact that it was not exposed to the elements as were other works. The paint brings out the striking details and shows the intricacies of Egyptian tomb art. It is also worked in limestone, which was a primary medium in Egypt. In this relief, we se that Ti is on a boat on the Nile. The Nile is teeming with all sorts of marine life. From our knowledge of the hieroglyphics, we know that Ti and his hunters are hunting hippopotami in the Nile marshes. Again, Ti is in profile save for his hands and chest. It is at this point, however, that we can see that there is very little difference between the picture of Ti and the picture of Narmer. This shows us that the Egyptians did not think about differentiation between human forms. They counted on the hieroglyphics and the idea of the larger figure being the focal point of the work. The third work that we will examine is the portrait of Ni’Ankhesut. It is a limestone portrait, which makes us assume that it is from the tomb of this individual. This is from the Sixth Dynasty. In this work, we see Ni’Ankhesut as the central figure in this work. Out of necessity, Ni’Ankhesut is the largest figure in the work, and above his head are hieroglyphics. These probably tell his story or his name, though we do not see the characteristic cartouche that accompanies the name. The fact that this individual has a tomb indicates that he was of sufficiently high rank to have the wealth and prestige that a tomb connotes. Again, if we physically look at the portrait, we see that the head and the legs are in profile, but the chest and the arms are in full frontal view. This again shows the idiosyncrasies in Egyptian art. If we compare the physicality of the portrait to the other two works that we have examined, we see that there is very little physical difference in the three figures. Again, the lack of differentiation among figures is evident. The final work we will examine is the Funerary Stele of Iamu. It is worked in limestone, which is the primary medium of Egyptian tomb art. This work is a more complex work than the portrait, but not as detailed as the Palette of Narmer. In this work, we see again that Iamu is the largest figure, and above his head are hieroglyphics. In this relief, it is difficult for one to tell what Iamu is doing. Again, we see little physical differentiation with the other figures that we have examined, and we see that all the figures are in profile and that this is totally in keeping with all Egyptian art. This writer does see some beginnings of differentiation in the figures, which begins to pave the way for more realistic portraiture. What conclusions can we draw from these four works? The first thing is that Egyptian art changed little over the years of Egypt’s rise and fall. Second, we see that Egypt chose art to express and transmit their culture. We also note that hieroglyphics were used to great effect to tell the individual stories that each work shows (with the exception of the Narmer Palette). Fourth, we can see that relief is the main form of art used by the Egyptians. Fifth, color is used throughout the Egyptian artistic world to give life to the two-dimensional images on the limestone walls. Sixth, relief is also a way to provide the art with a depth that it would otherwise lack. We must continue to learn from ancient art as it is the way that we learn the most about ourselves. To understand it is to better understand ourselves and our own culture.

International courts Essay Example for Free

International courts Essay Disputes are part of human existence. It is a normal occurrence. The earliest records one can find regarding quarrels between neighbors and the resolution of the same via third party intervention can be found in the Bible. Moses the old patriarch acted as an arbiter when two people could not resolve their issues. As civilizations developed, when Moses’ people were able to build more complex governments – the courts and the tribunals were also improved upon. In the modern times the system of settling disputes evolved into an art form. In America one has a very complicated way of resolving issues between two parties. It is already a great improvement from those used in the ancient world. Instead of a sole judge or king deciding over a case there is now a jury, a group of people who will work collectively as a whole and judge the matter so to speak. Now, all the previous discussion are all about settling disputes between two individuals or a group of people against a person and vice versa. This is also about a third party stepping in between two groups who could not settle their differences out of court. Finally, all the above are about the problems of individuals or groups of individuals that were addressed as citizens or as organizations within the bound of a political system or a geo-political nation. What if the disputes happened not between citizens within a country but a disagreement between two nations? Who will come in as a third party that will be reputable for each nation? This paper investigates the role of International Courts and the role it has to play in the ever increasing problem of global conflict. History According to Boris Kolba, international law and international courts is an old idea. He added that 17th century Dutch statesman Hugo Grotius, considered to be the â€Å"Father of International Law† argued, â€Å"†¦that all nations should follow one set of rules† (Kolba, p. 10). Those who were convinced on the practicality of Grotius’ ideas finally made decisive actions beginning in 1864 and Kolba wrote: In 1864, a group of nations met at Geneva, Switzerland, at the urging of Henri Dunant, one of the founders of the International Red Cross [†¦] It produced a set of rules for nations at war called the Geneva Convention [†¦] Only twelve nations signed the convention at first. Then in 1899 and 1907, delegates met at The Hague in the Netherlands [†¦] These conferences produced more rules, moving beyond war to cover how nations cold stay at peace. (p. 10) The United Nations. At the end of the Second World War, it was apparent that nations of the world must unite in dealing with international disputes so that it will not again result in a costly and devastating war. The first thing that was established was the United Nations and what followed suit is a more formal system of dealing with international problems. According to Mohamed Amr, to be a member of the UN automatically makes one a member of the International Court of Justice or ICJ. Referring to the Charter that established the UN, Sameh remarked that, â€Å"Article 92 of the Charter [†¦] reflects the constitutional position of the Court within the UN. It provides that the ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the UN [†¦] member states of the UN are ipso facto parties to the Court’s Statute† (p. 24). Simply put, if a country wants to enjoy the benefits and privileges as a UN member then that nation must also adhere to a basic condition as a member state and that is to honor the International Court of Justice. G. A. Knoops agrees with Amr and he said that the UN would establish international criminal tribunals as subsidiary judicial organs to fulfill its role as a guardian for international peace. Knoops added that: Clear examples of these enforcement measures are the establishment of international tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda [†¦] These tribunals have primacy over national courts (primary jurisdiction) concerning individuals suspected of perpetrating international crimes. The Security Council can compel UN member states to cooperate with the tribunals through use of its Chapter VII powers. (p. 7) Comparison Knoops made an interesting argument about the primacy of the UN’s International Court of Justice over that of national courts. It is therefore necessary in the study of International Courts to make a comparison to that of Civil Courts. Kolba provided the information as seen in the following: A Civil Court †¢ helps people settle their differences without fighting †¢ offers rules for people with disputes to follow †¢ takes time, giving people a chance to settle their arguments †¢ makes a decision that most people respect †¢ strengthens the rule of law The International Court of Justice †¢ helps nations settle their differences without going to war †¢ offers rules for nations with arguments to follow. †¢ takes time giving nations a chance to resolve their own disputes †¢ makes a decision that much of the world respects †¢ strengthens international law There is actually not much difference on how both systems work. The only difference is in terms of scale and instead of individuals what is being dealt here are relations between two countries. Moreover, if the disputes between two people could not be resolved amicably then the worst possible scenario could be personal vendetta that would probably result to violence. In case of disputes between two nations the catastrophic result could probably be a full-scale war. Kolba gave this riveting account on how an international incident can easily escalate into national disputes that could in turn lead to war. He wrote that in 1946, year after World War II, sea lanes were still unsafe for travel due to the numerous mines laid there by armies of the recently concluded global war: That year, four of Great Britain’s warship were sailing in the Corfu Channel off the coast of Albania [†¦] The warships struck at least one mine. The explosion badly damaged a ship, killing forty-five sailors and officers. Great Britain claimed Albania must have known the mines were there (and) blamed Albania for the damage and deaths. The unfriendly Albanian government said it was not responsible. (p . 4). The situation was tense. And the presence of British warships in the area added more tension to an already volatile atmosphere. Great Britain could have launched an attack, punishing Albania. Kolba however pointed out that in this case the rationale mind prevailed as the two nations saw the futility of war, â€Å"†¦the nations did not go to war. Instead, they went to court. Their dispute became the first case to be resolved by the International Court of Justice, the world’s most important international court† (p. 5).

Study On The Seagate Technology Buyout Finance Essay

Study On The Seagate Technology Buyout Finance Essay Motivation and structure of the transaction. In early 1999, Seagate was planning on major restructuring proposal with the private equity firm, Silver Lake partners L.P. The plan implied a leveraged buyout of Seagates disk drive operations, followed by the tax free acquisition of Seagates remaining assets by VERITAS Software Corporation. The choice for this two step transaction was mainly a result of Seagates 40 percent ownership of VERITASs common stock. In the previous year the share price of VERITAS increased significantly and the market value of Seagates share in VERITAS had come to substantially exceed Seagates entire market capitalization. The value gap was a result of the perceived tax liability by the market if Seagate were to sell its VERITAS stake and Seagates core disk drive operations were not fully valued in the market due to increased interest in Internet firms and cheaper data storage providers. The two-step transaction was thus believed by Seagates management to genera te significant wealth gains for its shareholders. Before making their decision Seagates has to consider some alternatives to the previously described restructuring in order to address its low stock price. The company could sell the company as a whole, repurchase its own stock or sell off part of the VERITAS stake, or undertake a tax-free spin-off of either the disk drive business or its stake in VERITAS. We address each of these alternatives next. Seagate could choose to sell itself to other companies that may be interested. A merger or acquisition, in this case, could be either horizontal or vertical. Whereas a horizontal merger or acquisition could be beneficial for Seagate, because of the even higher market in the very competitive disk drive market, a vertical merger would be less successful as the company is already vertically integrated. However, it would be ideal for Seagate to be acquired by VERITAS as it holds 40 percent of its shares. But VERITAS was not interested in entering into the disk drive industry as management believed this was to far away from their core software business. A second alternative for the company is to sell its VERITAS stock or repurchase its own stock partially in the open market, however. However both actions proved to be ineffective. First Seagates ability to sell of VERITAS shares was limited by a prior agreement made with VERITAS. Even if they could sell off the entire VERITAS stake, it still seems an undesirable outcome since the transactions would be taxable on both the corporate as personal accounts. Second when the company performed a repurchase it had little impact on its stock price. A tax free spin-off would imply that Seagate spins off one of its business units, the core disk drive business or the VERITAS stake as an entirely new company. However the internal revenue code, as part of the US statuary tax law, requires that both the distributing corporation and the controlled corporation must be engaged immediately after the distribution in an actively conducted trade or business for a five-year period. Furthermore it also states that the corporate divisions lacking a business purpose can not be accomplished tax free (IRS, 2003). Clearly the VERITAS stake corporation will not satisfy these conditions and thus a tax free spin-off is unlikely. Besides the distribution must be the last resort for solving the business problem. In other words, it must be established that the business problem cannot be solved otherwise. This condition also does not hold since, as we will later see, the proposed two step transaction remains as a valid alternative. After reviewing these alternatives the proposed two step transaction seems to be baneful, mostly due to its low tax nature. As indicated in the case the stock-for-stock swap qualifies as a reorganization under the Internal Revenue Code, thus avoiding the tax implications as a swap. VERITAS will swap 109,330,300 shares for 128,059,966 shares previously owned by Seagate, and the tax advantage will be Huge as no personal or corporate taxes have to be paid on the transaction. Furthermore the decrease in total outstanding shares associated with the deal will cause earnings per share to rise, cetris paribus. In total this would be in the benefits of the VERITAS shareholders, enabling the two stage transaction to be pursued on their behalf. Seagates shareholders also benefit from the potential restructuring program. First they will receive 109,330,300 shares that have experienced a price increase of 200 percent after the half year that followed VERITAS acquisition of Seagates Network and Storage group. Compared to the 25 percent increase over the same period of its own shares this is a significant difference. Furthermore they will receive an additional amount generated from the sale of Seagates disk drive manufacturing assets (including $765m of cash) to the Suez Acquisition Company. The benefits to be received here, and thus also the potential benefits of Silver lake Partners L.P. are thus for the main part determined by this price, which was not determined yet. Seagates employees will also benefit from the two step transaction as their incentive to perform increases significantly when the new Suez Acquisition Company is no longer tight to VERITAS performance. Corporate governance is now considerable tighter than in th e old situation. A sincere loser of the reorganization is the government that could have gained more in taxes if one of the pre-described alternatives were chosen. Levering the buyout There are a number of benefits of leveraged buy outs. Business efficiency improvements, increased interest tax shields, change of management or improved management incentives and higher firm value are the most important possible effects. In the case Seagate an increase of the stock price was the most important target of the leveraged buyout. Before the leverage buyout Seagates stock price was more and more tied to VERITAS stock price. The performance of Seagates main business was a subordinated parameter. The trial to increase the stock price by means of selling VERITAS shares and buy own shares in the open market did not lead to the aimed target. Therefore a leveraged buyout was a possibility to lose the stock price from the performance of VERITAS. Besides of this main purpose to disconnect the stock price development from VERITAS also other positive effects of leveraged buyout could be realized, as the improvement of the market position of Seagate from a strategic and long-term point of view. As a consequence a higher probability to secure a positive stock price development after being on the stock market again can be attained. Another positive aspect of leveraged buyouts are taxes that can be saved through higher debts and interest that is tax-deductible. Although it should be considered that interest cannot be deducted unlimited because of interest barrier rules or earnings stripping rules. Therefore the interest only can be deducted to a certain extent, depending on the debt-to-equity ratio. There are specific regulations that differ from country to country. In case of cross-border leveraged buyouts the situation should be analyzed separately. Within the EU there is no different treatment in cross-border situations because of the freedom of establishment and the freedom of capital of the EC Treaty. A decisive argument of leveraged buyouts is the possibility that enterprises that were poorly managed before their acquisition can undergo valuable corporate reformation when they become private. An important change in the corporate structure is often the modification and replacement of the management staff or improved management incentives. In the Seagate case Silver Lake was convinced about the abilities of the management team. Silver Lake argued that the members of the management team had over ten years of experience in the disk drive industry and underlined that it was an important condition of the deal that the six top managers were taken over. In many articles it is argued differently as a restructuring without modification of management staff is much harder and there is a stronger opposition against many unpleasant but necessary changes. As incentives the management had to convert a portion of their Seagate equity into new equity and also got some deferred compensation. The re jection of unnecessary company sectors as well as the reduction of excessive expenditures also is an important factor for the success of the deal. In the leveraged buyout market stable and predictable cash flows and significant tangible assets which can be provided as security for bank loans are positive preconditions. These are features that make an enterprise for private equity firms interesting to invest. In the 1980s and early 1990s industrial companies were strongly favored and technology business was avoided. This has changed as the technology sector has become more and more important and in the last years this sector has become increasingly more interesting for Private Equity investments (von Nell-Breuning/2010). The disk drive industry as part of the technology sector is distanced by heavy price competition, short product life cycles which are often no longer than six months and high expenditures on RD. These are features that make buyouts very risky. It makes it difficult to predict cash flows, which plays a significant role for the success of a leveraged buyout. Nevertheless Silver Lake was convinced that in general the disk drive industry market development would be extremely positive and that the disk drives would be the key technological component in hardware products. It also should be taken into account that Seagate had a number of characteristics that were from a positive nature for a leveraged buyout like vertical integration for a better competitive position on the market. But also high RD while using up cash is a positive aspect to prevent market entry of smaller, less well-capitalized competitors. Another advantage of Seagate was the relatively high equity ratio compared with the technological industry. The equity ratio of Seagate was 26.6 per cent in June 1997, it was 29.6 per cent in June 1998 and in June 1999 the equity ratio constituted 23.9 per cent. The equity ratio of its competitors were lower, f.ex. the competitor Quantum HDD only had an equity ratio from about 13.5 per cent. The average equity ratio of mature industries is between 20 and 25 per cent depending on the country. Capital Structure In order to assess the capital structure of the deal and in essence the amount of debt the Luczo and the buyout team should take it is necessary to estimate the firm value. Two model are being considered for this task. The first one is the relative valuation model. The rationale for relative valuation stems from the notion that the intrinsic value of an asset is difficult to estimate. Its value can be measured by the price the market is willing to pay for its assets, based upon its characteristics. The second model being considered is the DCF model. When comparing relative valuation with DCF, one advantage over DCF is the reflection of market perceptions on the value of the company. Thus, in a perfect market, the perceptions of future prospects are already reflected in the stock price. It requires less information than DCF models and is therefore less prone to estimation errors. In addition, managers are often judged on a relative basis and relative valuation might therefore match th eir needs and horizons. Markets are assumed to make mistakes when pricing assets across time. DCF valuations detach themselves from market valuations and assess the fundamentals underlying the firm and its growth perspectives. Relative valuation leads to a reasonable estimate when there are many comparable assets that are priced in the market and a common variable can be applied to standardize the prices. Although the case offers some information on competitors we deem the data to be insufficient. Even more, relative valuation works best for investors that usually have relatively short investment horizons as it is rather difficult or impossible for the market to perceive long-term growth perspectives. In general a private equity investment(PE) spans on a 5 to 7 years time line meaning the PE investor has a medium to long-term investment horizon. More confidence in reasonable firm value estimation is thus assigned to the DCF valuation. The fundamentals of a company provide a prudent basis for estimations. Assumptions for the estimations are transparent while these are rather not in the case of relative valuation. A DCF valuation can be applied to long-time horizons and is thus more applicable for investors with long-term investment perspectives. In addition, a fundamental approach might work as a catalyst that moves the price in the market towards the real value of the assets. Silver Lake Partners L.P., as the bidder for the controlling stake of the company is interested in deriving the firm value, meaning the value of the equity stake in association with debt. Cash flows coming from operating activities would therefore need to be estimated. A first step concludes in the calculation of free cash flows to firm (FCFF). The FCFF is computed based on the following assumption: The company management provides three different projections for the buyout team: The Base Case, The Upside case and The Downside Case, each differing in EBITA and Revenues values. Capital expenditures and Depreciation are to remain the same in all three cases. The values used are provided in the operating performance projections table of Seagate. The working capital(WC) is mentioned in the case as being historically equal to 0 for the industry so the change in WC is to be ignored. According to this values the FCFF can be computed. After total cash flow is calculated, it is brought back to NPV using the companys weighted average cost of capital (WACC). The WACC, which is defined by the relative cost of the companys debt and equity is also viewed as the required rate of return for the company and its investors to compensate them for the inherent risks of ownership and realization risk for projected cash flows. The value for the risk free rate and the market risk premium have been set as given by Damodaran(2010) as 3.20% and 2.05% respectively. The beta of the company is supplied by the case as 1.2. Thus we come to the value of 6% for the WACC. Based on the values of the FCFF and WACC computed we can now asses the present value of the firm in the years to come. By summing up this values for the required time horizon we get to the firm values for the three cases Figure 1 Firm value analysis As it can be noticed the firm values for the cases register important differences. The Upside case stands out. Comparable to this the Downside Case has a much smaller difference. In order to better account for the possibility of worse than expected, but more importantly, for better than expected performance in the company we consider that the average of the three values should be used as the firm value and as the price the buyout team should pay meaning US$2.224 billion. We have determined a purchase price of $2.22 billion that Silver Lake Partners will pay to acquire the operations of Seagate. This will be a leveraged buyout that includes two different equity sources and two different debt sources. Our proposed capital structure will consist of 79% percent equity and 21% percent debt. This structure was chosen based on the BBB three-year median rates as referenced in the case (Exhibit 11). The EBIT Interest Coverage ratio set the median value over 1997 to 1999 of 3.9x. In order to get the highest value for the firm when deciding to sell it, the PE firm will try to maintain its rating or even to improve it so it makes sense to consider the BBB value as appropriate. Even more lower rating will also mean higher interest rates for its debt. Using this value and the EBIT values provided for the case we can compute the amount of interest that the firm can afford to pay every year. It can be noticed in Exhibit 1 that the lowest value for EBIT is predicted in year 2000 so it makes sense to consider this value as a benchmark as the following years the performance is expected to improve. Starting from amount of interest that the firm can afford to pay every year we calculated the value of debt that the firm has to take in order to be required to pay that amount of interest. This adds up to US$468.31 meaning 21% of the price recommended for the deal. By comparing this result with the values provided in Exhibit 11 from the case it can be noticed that the firm will remain under BBB rating. The remaining 79% is to be provided by the buyout team in form of equity. It should also be considered that Silver Lake Partners L.P. will receive US$765 million by acquiring Seagate, funds that can be used as equity for the deal. Figure 2 level of debt analysis In order to better assess the impact of the three scenarios on the capital structure of the deal we also used the values computed under The Base Case, The Upside Case and The Downside Case. Again it can be noticed that the better performance predictions stand out. This is based on the possibility that in the latter years of the investment the firm will perform over the expectations even though 2000 is perceived as the same in all cases.

Nuclear Power :: essays research papers

Nuclear Power Producing energy from a nuclear power plant is very complicated. The process of nuclear energy involves the fission of atoms, the release of energy from fission as heat, and the transfer of heat to electricity in power plants. The process of splitting the atom is called nuclear fission. Fission can take place in many different kinds of atoms. This explanation uses Uranium - 235, the atom most commonly used in nuclear reactors. The Uranium atom has many protons, thus making it unstable. Since the nucleus of the atom is so unstable it wants to split itself apart, causing a spontaneous fission. When the nuclei of a Uranium atom splits apart, it splits into two atoms. Commonly the nucleus splits into Barium and Krypton; however, it can split into any two atoms as long as the number of protons equals the original amount of the protons found in the Uranium. In addition, a mass amount of energy is released along with two or three neutrons. It is these neutrons that can begin a chain reaction, each neutron that is given off could collide with another Uranium atom splitting it apart. Each of these fissioning atoms releases a very large amount of energy, and some more neutrons. This process continues causing a chain reaction withut any outside assistance, and the Uranium has "gone critical"(Martindale, 794-195). This chain reaction is the basis for how nuclear power is made. The amount of the energy that is given off in nuclear fission is astronomical. To equal the amount of energy given off when splitting some uranium the size of a golf ball, one would have to burn approximately twenty-five train cars full of coal. Presently, the planet contains twenty-five times more nuclear fuel compared to fossil fuel. On average, an atomic power plant can produce half a million kilowatts of power. As a comparison, a hair dryer takes about one kilowatt (Jenny, 1-2). The producing of energy from nuclear fission is very similar to using a very common fossil fuel boiler. The difference lies in the reactor, where the heat is generated by fissioning material. The most common of reactors is the pressurized water reactor; however, there are many other types. The pressurized water reactor is the most common reactor in the United States. The reactor of a nuclear power plant is where the fissioning takes place. The Uranium is contained in fuel rods, each rod is sealed so no contamination occurs. Many of these rods are then contained in a fuel assembly. All the fuel assemblies are separated by control rods. The control rods limit the amount of