Instructions for assessment
The assessment is an individual project appraisal report. The project is a recent business takeover or merger to be investigated in detail. The report should be 3,000 words plus appendices containing slides, spreadsheet analysis and learning logs.
A business case should be made to justify the takeover bid. Your report should contain:
1) Present ONE of each: (2 power-point slides appended to your report) 15 marks
strategic/market (competitor) analysis (rationale for takeover)
preliminary financial analysis, stating the assumptions required to value the target company using DCF analysis (revenue growth, profit margin, cost of capital etc.)
2) A business valuation, based on recent financial performance, calculate the equity value of the target company to justify the bid price offered by bidder. Explain your methods and justify your assumptions for forecast performance under new ownership. You should append 2 screenshots from a spreadsheet model (results & formulae) to your report – 30 marks
3) What if? Identify a possible rival bidder (usually from the same sector). Explain why the rival bidder may have made different assumptions in their business valuation and hence a different bid price – 15 marks
4) Write a critique of business valuation methods and relevant research, explaining why any anticipated bidder gains may not come to fruition, especially given the possible economic crisis (e.g. Covid-19). Refer to relevant research and cite journal articles to support your discussion – 15 marks
5) A learning (b)log (using the template provided) to reflect on what you have learnt from each session (at least 8), including reference to Moodle materials, showing how you have applied this learning to the assessment task, to be appended to your report – 15 marks
6) A supporting bibliography and professional style of report (presentation) – 10 marks
Structure and presentation
The individual report should be 3000 words plus references and appendices. The report must be a word document, but you are expected to use a spreadsheet for the financial analysis. You should submit screenshots of your spreadsheet results view and formulae view in an appendix.
Any written work should be spell-checked and a contents page should be included. Do not use various font sizes and colours Black ink, Arial, size 11, 1.5 lines spaced is recommended. Use DIN A4 format and page margins of 2.5 cm or 1 inch.
