Miami MBA team captures ACG Cincinnati Cup

Miami University's Farmer School of Business MBA team brought home the trophy and accompanying $5,000 prize after besting two other teams at the ACG Cincinnati Cup Feb. 25. 

The investment banking case competition involved MBA teams from University of Cincinnati and Xavier University as well as Miami. The case was a fictional investment banking/private equity scenario in which the case competitors were asked to advise the investment committee of a private equity firm interested in acquiring an interest in a family-owned cable company. 

FSB Capital Markets, the Farmer team advancing to the regional competition, won an initial, internal round on Feb. 3. Judges liked the solution proposed by team members Luke Barber, Lance Emerson and Josh Vanzant: a management-led buyout. 

“In the first round of competition we played the role of investment bankers engaged by the family-owned company to determine a value of their company and pursue strategic alternatives to sell a portion of the company,” Barber explained. “In the final round, the situation had changed. We had been stolen away from the investment bank, and hired on as associates at a private equity firm. The private equity firm was pursuing the possibility of acquiring a portion or all of the same family-owned business from round one. We presented our recommendation to the investment committee of the private equity firm.” 

"The ACG Cup competition provides our MBA students an opportunity to display the practical, hands-on approach we take to business education, with strong technical training as well as development of the soft skills, such as making effective presentations," said MBA programs director Brad Bays. 

The ACG Cincinnati Cup final competition was held at Kingsgate Marriott, University of Cincinnati. In 2011, the event will be held at Miami. This competition, founded in 2008 by the Association for Corporate Growth Cincinnati (ACG), is open to masters-level students in southwest Ohio. 

The Farmer School MBA Program has been ranked ninth in the world among accelerated full-time programs by the Wall Street Journal.