THE LEVERAGED BUYOUT OF CHEEK PRODUCTS, INC. Cheek Products, Inc. (CPI) was founded 53 years ago by Joe Cheek and originally sold snack foods such as potato chips and pretzels Through acquisitions, the company has grown into a conglomerate with major divisions in the snack food industry, homie security systems, cosmetics, and plastics Additionally, the company has several smaller divisions In recent years the company has been underperforming, but the company's management doesn't seem to be aggressively pursuing opportunities to improve operations (and the stock price). Meg Whalen is a financial analyst specializing in identifying potential buyout targets She believes that two major changes are needed at Cheek. First, she thinks that the com- pany would be better off it it sold severaldinisions and concentrated on its core competen- cies in snack foods and home security systems Second the comrany is financed entirely with cauity, Because the cash flows of the company are relatively steady, Meg thinks the company's debt equity ratio should he at least 25. She believes these changes would sig- nificantly enhance shareholder wealth, but she also believes that the existing board and company management are unlikely to take the necessary actions As a result, Meg thinks the company is a good candidate for a leverased huvout, A leveraged buyout (LBO) is the acquisition by a small group of equity investogs of a public or private company. Generally, an LBO is financed primarily with debt. The new shareholders service the heavy interest and principal payments with cash from opera- tions and/or asset sales Shareholders generally hope to reverse the LBO within three to seven years by way of a public offering or sale of the company to another firm. A buyout is therefore likely to be successful only if the firm generates enough cash to serve the debt in the early years and if the company is attractive to other buyers a few years down the road Meg has suggested the potential LBO to her partners, Ben Feller and Brenton Flynn. Ben and Brenton have asked Meg to provide projections of the cash flows for the company Meg has provided the following estimates (in millions) 2010 20 2012 2013 2014 Sales Costs $2.115 $2.37 $2.555 $2.616 $2.738 Depreciation EBT 562 738 776 839 884 442 $1,180 $1,236 $1,366 $1,343 $1.412 373 397 413 434 Capital expenditures 215 186 234 237 23 Change in Nwc (94) (143) 78 73 $ 83 Asset sales $1,092 791 At the end of five years, Meg estimates that the growth rate in cash flow 3.5 percent per year. The capital expenditures are for new projects and the replacement Part IV Capital Structure and Dividend Policy of equipment that wears out. Additionally, the company would realize cash flow from the sale of several divisions. Even though the company will sell these divisions, overall sales should increase because of a more concentrated effort on the remaining divisions After plowing through the company's financials and various pro forma scenarios, Ben and Brenton feel that in five years they will be able to sell the company to another party or take it public again. They are also aware that they will have to borrow a considerable amount of the purchase price. The interest payments on the debt for each of the next five years if the LBO is undertaken will be these (in millions): 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 Interest payments 1,482 430 $1,534 ,495 $1,547 The company currently has a required return on assets of 14 percent. Because of the high debt level, the debt will carry a yield to maturity of 12.5 percent for the next five years When the debt is refinanced in five years, they believe the new yield to maturity will be 8 percent. CPI currently has 167 million shares of stock outstanding that sell for $53 per share The corporate tax rate is 40 percent. If Meg, Ben, and Brenton decide to undertake the LBO, what is the most they should offer per share