LBO Case Study J Crew: A Year Later

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At the time it was announced in late 2010, TPG’s $3 billion acquisition of specialty retailer J Crew was one of the biggest leveraged buyouts since the credit crunch struck several years earlier.

Through this case study, you’ll learn how to analyze, model, and evaluate such a deal and answer case study questions in job interviews.

You’ll determine whether or not it was a good deal for the company’s shareholders and for the private equity firms involved – and you’ll learn why there was so much controversy after the fact, including why several settlements and lawsuits came up in the aftermath of the announcement.

You will get more out of this LBO analysis training session if you complete the homework.

The $3 Billion J Crew LBO: A Year Later – Case Study Homework

In this case study, you’ll analyze the $3.0 billion buyout of J. Crew by TPG and Leonard Green, one of the largest in recent years.

Announced on November 23, 2010, the deal represented a rebound in the LBO and debt markets and was one of the larger deals since the start of the credit crunch in mid-2007.

J. Crew is a specialty retailer with over 300 retail stores in the US. It sells higher-end clothing and accessories via its stores and directly via mail order and its website.

In part 1 of this case study, you’ll use the historical income statement and balance sheet in the attached Excel file to create a 5-year projection model for J. Crew. In part 2, you’ll modify it to create an LBO model instead.

Part 1 – Assumptions

Please use the following assumptions for part 1 of this case study:

Assume that revenue growth is 12% in 2012, falling to 11% in 2013, 10% in 2014, 9% in 2015, and 8% in 2016.

• Assume that gross margins, operating margins, and tax rates stay in-line with historical averages.
• Assume no interest income or interest expense in this first part of the case study.
• J. Crew’s existing debt should remain the same each year. There will be no financing activities such as dividends, stock issuances or repurchases, additional debt, and so on.
• Capital expenditures and working capital items as percentages of income statement line items should also remain in-line with historical averages.
• Assume that Other Assets under Long-Term Assets and Other Long-Term Liabilities under Long-Term Liabilities stay constant each year.

Part 2

Complete the 3-statement model of J. Crew using these assumptions, and then check your work against the “Completed” Excel file.

Once you’ve created the LBO model in part 2, you’ll use the output of your model along with your knowledge of the markets and the economy to assess how the deal looks in hindsight, why it sparked so much controversy, and whether or not the shareholders and private equity firms involved truly benefited.

>>> What to do next <<<

1. Download the Homework Assignment (click this link – scroll to bottom for the links to zip files).
2. Unzip its contents.
3. Start by reading Case-Study-Text-Part-1.doc and follow the instructions there.
4. Unzip Part 2 contents.
5. Complete the Part 2 assignment.

The Training Video