Wrigley Case Study

1408 Words6 Pages
Introduction William Wrigley Jr. Company is the world’s largest manufacturer and distributor of chewing gum. The branded consumer food and candy industry is extremely competitive and dominated by the largest players. Wrigley’s is a conservatively financed company with no debt and despite this position has produced significant growth in the last couple of years through foreign expansion and new products. Blanka Dobrynin, managing partner of Aurora Borealis LLC, would like to explore the possibility of an investment into Wrigley on the basis of persuading Wrigley to leverage the company and create more value for shareholders. Aurora Borealis LLC is a hedge fund with about $3 billion under management that pursues an “active-investor strategy.” In this strategy Aurora identifies opportunities for corporation’s to restructure, invests into the shares of that company, and then persuades management and the board to restructure. Dobrynin asks Susan Chandler, an associate, to evaluate a possible Wrigley recapitalization of $3 billion to either be paid as a dividend or repurchase shares. Statement of Goals & Purpose We will evaluate the capital structure of Wrigley to determine its Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC). The goal is to determine if this opportunity is a good investment for Aurora Borealis LLC, by evaluating the effects of a restructure on Wrigley’s share value, debt rating, cost of capital, earnings per share (EPS), and voting control. A good opportunity in this situation would be beneficial for Wrigley and result in a large increase in stock price, which would in turn provide a large return on investment for Aurora Borealis LLC. Specific details to examine: * What are the advantages and disadvantages of the restructure for Wrigley? * What are the signaling effects of a restructure? * How would a restructure affect

More about Wrigley Case Study

Open Document