Wharton School of Business Wins Tenth Annual Corporate Restructuring Competition

Wharton School of Business Wins Tenth Annual Corporate Restructuring Competition

November 11, 2013, Alexandria, Va. — A team from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business won its fourth Bettina M. Whyte Trophy at the Tenth Annual ABI Corporate Restructuring Competition, held Nov. 8 at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business in Philadelphia. The second-year MBA student winners also shared a $6,000 cash prize. Students from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business won the second-place award of $3,500, while a team from Northwestern University Kellogg Graduate School of Management received the $2,500 prize for third place. The Wharton School previously won in November 2007, 2009 and 2011. The competition, which is co-sponsored by ABI and the Association of Insolvency and Restructuring Advisors (AIRA), provides the nation's top MBA programs with a unique opportunity to learn by solving a real-world restructuring case problem. This year’s student teams, which hailed from nine schools, had a week to "solve" the problem and prepare comprehensive presentations showing their operational and financial plans before panels of experts representing senior secured lenders and bondholders, with a final round before a mock board of directors. Tom Morrow of AlixPartners (Southfield, Mich.) and Steve Darr of Mesirow Financial (Boston) served as competition co-chairs, and more than a dozen top restructuring professionals served as judges. Prize money is provided by ABI’s Anthony H.N. Schnelling Endowment Fund. Past winners of the Corporate Restructuring Competition include the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, Columbia Business School, Northwestern University Kellogg Graduate School of Management (January 2007 and November 2008), New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business and the Stanford Graduate Business School. Another school competing in this year's program was Cornell University's Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management. In addition to the case presentations, the competition featured a sponsored networking dinner keynoted by Robert J. Keach, co-chair of the ABI Commission to Study the Reform of Chapter 11. An awards reception also followed the final round of the competition. ABI thanks the major sponsors of this year's competition, including AlixPartners LLP, Alvarez & Marsal, Blackstone, Deloitte and Mesirow Financial Consulting. ### ABI is the largest multi-disciplinary, nonpartisan organization dedicated to research and education on matters related to insolvency. ABI was founded in 1982 to provide Congress and the public with unbiased analysis of bankruptcy issues. The ABI membership includes more than 13,000 attorneys, accountants, bankers, judges, professors, lenders, turnaround specialists and other bankruptcy professionals, providing a forum for the exchange of ideas and information. For additional information on ABI, visit www.abiworld.org. For additional conference information, visit http://www.abiworld.org/conferences.html.