Creating Value Through Corporate Restructuring: Case Studies in Bankruptcies, Buyouts, and Breakups (Wiley Finance)

An updated look at how corporate restructuring really works

Stuart Gilson is one of the leading corporate restructuring experts in the United States, teaching thousands of students and consulting with numerous companies. Now, in the second edition of this bestselling book, Gilson returns to present new insight into corporate restructuring.

Through real-world case studies that involve some of the most prominent restructurings of the last ten years, and highlighting the increased role of hedge funds in distressed investing, you'll develop a better sense of the restructuring process and how it can truly create value. In addition to "classic" buyout and structuring case studies, this second edition includes coverage of Delphi, General Motors, the Finova Group and Warren Buffett, Kmart and Sears, Adelphia Communications, Seagate Technology, Dupont-Conoco, and even the Eurotunnel debt restructuring.

• Covers corporate bankruptcy reorganization, debt workouts, "vulture" investing, equity spin-offs, asset divestitures, and much more
• Addresses the effect of employee layoffs and corporate downsizing
• Examines how companies allocate value and when a corporation should "pull the trigger"

From hedge funds to financial fraud to subprime busts, this second edition offers a rare look at some of the most innovative and controversial restructurings ever.

The book is useful and refreshing for restructuring industry participants at all levels from seasoned executives to novices. I have drawn on the concepts and problems outlined in a variety of situations, including brainstorming about particularly difficult issues concering client matters to assisting in the development of objectives for some of my firm's internal training materials.

I found the chapter on "Investing in Disressed Situations" combined with the two appendices on technical analyses (some of which I had previously read as journal papers) to be excellent summaries. These would prove useful to any reader and especially helpful to newer participants or students of financial restructuring.

Coporate Restructuring is designed as a case study text book. To some, including myself having received an MBA from the University of Chicago, this approach can be somewhat awkward. The advantage of the approach, especialy in restructuring, is that it does emulate the real world situation faced by turnaround/crisis management practitioners and investment bankers. The devolpment of the "theory" or "solution" is left to the reader. This is the correct approach since each restructuring case tends to be "unique and hand crafted"---"cook book" approaches can lead to incorrect answers and disastrous results for clients.

Coporate Restructuring is a "must read" for students of restructuring. It belongs in the library of all practitioners, principals and agents, in this area.


The only reference guide for the restructuring/turnaround   August 24, 2001
Johan J Rizki (brighton, MA United States)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful

This is an extremely important book that nimbly moves where no one has gone before to explain the value creation through corporate restructuring and turnaround. It does so by complementing real world case studies with well-focused introductions of theoretical concepts, analytical tools, and legal/tax framework. As a restructuring consultant, I found that the book contains much useful practical information on the restructuring process that turnaround practitioners can find helpful in their practice. The case studies themselves include useful applied, institutional information about how various types of restructuring are done, what motivates restructuring, what different restructuring options are available for dealing with a particular problem or challenge, etc. I find that it goes far beyond the legal framework of bankruptcy resolution to show how conflicting stakeholders claims play to create or destroy value. The book undoubtely breaks new ground in explaining the restructuring strategies and processes. I recommended the book to many of my colleagues in reorganization and restructuring services as I believe it shoud become essential reading for students, creditors, debtors and consultants as they face the complex operational, legal and financial challenges of distressed situations. The price: I found it steep at first glance but then I changed my mind when I compared it to other professional books in the industry.


An Important Book   August 27, 2001
Elizabeth Warren (Cambridge, MA United States)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

Gilson gives an up-close-and-personal view of how corporate reorganization works. By using case studies, he makes the topics come alive. At the same time that he entertains, he teaches important lessons about dealing with substantial business setbacks. The book is full of interesting ideas. Difficult concepts are taught not as an abstraction, but in the context of solving a hard problem. Gilson offers a sophisticated analysis that is always clear and often entertaining. A must-read for serious business people.