MBA Students Win ACG Utah Cup

PROVO, Utah – Apr 07, 2016 – Brigham Young University MBA students were right on the money, recently placing first in the Association of Corporate Growth Utah Cup. The team’s presentation of real-world case studies earned them $1,000 in the on-campus preliminary round and $5,000 in the statewide round.

“BYU’s team was characterized by its strong valuation fundamentals, creative deal structure and solid presentation skills,” says Grant McQueen, professor and the team’s adviser. “In the end judges decided that the BYU students’ proposed valuation and deal structure was the most practical and reasonable.”

The ACG Cup is a graduate student case competition dealing with mergers and acquisitions, private equity, leverage buyouts, and investment banking. It is designed to help students acquire corporate world transaction perspectives. This year’s initial BYU round required students to act as if they were consulting for an initial public offering. In the final round teams had to consult on a hypothetical leveraged buyout transaction and present their proposals to local executives and dealmakers.

“In both rounds there were other teams that came up with stellar, creative ideas that showed a lot of potential for profitability,” says Jordan Cline, MBA student from Taylorsville, Utah. “I feel like what set our team apart in both rounds of the competition was that our recommendations were creative but also realistic.”

The BYU teams consisted of MBA students Cline; Hiep Nguyen from Hanoi, Vietnam; Lydia Shen from Shanghai; and Chad Walker from Centerville, Utah. They competed against teams from University of Utah, Westminster College and Utah Valley University. 

Each team member had a strong finance experience that allowed them to work productively as a whole. Likewise, each student’s various backgrounds were able to complement each other and make a cohesive and successful unit.

“We knew each other well and could work cooperatively and efficiently together,” Shen says. “I think the finance knowledge and techniques that we accumulated from our past work experience and MBA classes helped us get prepared and made a big difference in the competition.”

The Marriott School is located at Brigham Young University, the largest privately owned, church-sponsored university in the United States. The school has nationally recognized programs in accounting, business management, entrepreneurship, finance, information systems and public management. The school’s mission is to prepare men and women of faith, character and professional ability for positions of leadership throughout the world. Approximately 3,300 students are enrolled in the Marriott School’s graduate and undergraduate programs.