Chicago GSB Takes Top Prize in University of Maryland M&A Competition

College Park, Md. – October 20, 2008 – The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business today announced the winners of its second annual Mergers & Acquisitions Competition, held October 16-17. The event, organized by Smith’s MBA Finance Association, challenged teams of MBA students from leading business schools to create and deliver M&A pitches to a panel of executive judges. Students from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business won first prize, $5,000. Purdue University Krannert School of Management MBA students took second prize, $2,500; and Brigham Young University Marriott School of Management students won third prize, $1,000.

“While economic events sweeping through Wall Street have altered the landscape for mergers and acquisitions, they have not changed the need for skilled graduates,” said G. “Anand” Anandalingam, dean of the Robert H. Smith School of Business. “For companies with funds on their balance sheets this is a prime opportunity to take advantage of targets’ low share prices. This competition gives business students the opportunity to hone valuable and needed experience under tight deadline pressure that very much mirrors the conditions of the real world.”

Teams were tasked with creating a persuasive argument to a hypothetical case —strategic merger and acquisition alternatives for a technology company — while under deadline and using real-time financial data. Most teams worked through the night, gathering data and finalizing their presentations, then pitched their recommendations to a team of judges who selected four teams to advance to a final round. Participants included MBA teams from Brigham Young University, Carnegie Mellon University, Georgetown University, New York University, Purdue University, Texas Christian University, University of Chicago, University of Maryland, University of Rochester, and University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The event was supported by title-level sponsor KPMG Corporate Finance and gold-level sponsor Marriott International Inc. Representatives from the sponsoring companies served as judges for the competition.

“In our business, we are out doing this every day, so there is a real real-life component to this competition,” said Stephen Gaines, managing director, KPMG Corporate Finance and a final-round judge. “The teams that came out on top were those that came together and had complimentary skills, and could show passion about what they believed, even if the judges were questioning it.”