Bright Horizons Family Solutions, Inc.: A Great Deal, or Room for Improvement in a Bid by a Strategic Acquiror

As an investment bank prepares to advise a client on a competing bid for a child-care services company, how should the target and potential buyer be valued?
Donna M. Hitscherich  | Fall 2009
Print this page

Jacqueline Barbieri, the managing principal of boutique investment bank B&H Advisors, wanted to assist her client Living, Loving & Learning on a competing bid for Bright Horizons Family Solutions, which had agreed to be bought by an affiliate of Bain Capital. Although both LL&L and Bright Horizons provided child-care services, the former was closely held and few trading comparables existed for Bright Horizons. Creating a stock-for-stock merger proposal depended on analyzing the valuations for LL&L and Bright Horizons and incorporating the impact of a $19.5 million termination fee. In this case students examine financial data such as projected income statements to create valuations for both businesses and examine the options for a takeover bid.

Case ID: 090312

Buy select cases through The Case Centre,  Ivey Publishing and Harvard Business Publishing.

Contact us by e-mail at Columbia CaseWorks or 212-853-8585.