NYU Takes Top Prize in Third Annual University of Maryland M&A Competition

College Park, Md. – October 26, 2009 – The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business today announced the winners of its third annual Mergers & Acquisitions Competition, held October 22-23. The event, organized by Smith’s MBA Finance Association, challenged 10 teams of MBA students from leading business schools to craft and present M&A pitches to a panel of executive and faculty judges. The student team from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University won the $5,000 first prize. The Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia MBA students took the $2,500 second prize, and the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University students came away with the $1,000 third prize. Marriott International Inc. sponsored the competition.

“Our goal is to help to students prepare to be leaders whose business strategies take more than profit-making into account,” said G. “Anand” Anandalingam, dean of the Robert H. Smith School of Business. “M&A involves so much more than just finance. With the changing financial world and new rules and regulations, it’s more important than ever that important business decisions consider impact not only for shareholders, but for all other stakeholders as well.”

Teams worked through the night to create persuasive arguments to a hypothetical case — strategic merger and acquisition alternatives for a satellite television company. They used real-time financial data to formulate their recommendations, then pitched their final presentations to a team of judges who selected four teams to advance to a final round. Teams were judged on their qualitative arguments and the quantitative models used to support their arguments.

In addition to a Smith School team and the winning teams, competitors included MBA students from the Howard University School of Business, the Krannert School of Management at Purdue University, the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame, the Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester, and the Wisconsin School of Business at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Representatives from Marriott served as judges for the competition, along with other corporate executives, alumni and finance faculty.

“Doing competitions like this really helps the students because they get up-to-date information and can really tailor their pitches to today’s environment,” said Tom Hogan, vice president of corporate finance for Marriott International and a final-round competition judge. “They are sharpening valuable skills and abilities that will really prepare them for the working environment post all of the financial crises that have happened.”

The competition is the MBA Finance Association’s premier fall event at the Smith School. It also included a networking reception and opportunities for students to meet industry professionals and recruiters.