web analytics

Water Street Private Equity Case Challenge (PECC)

The Water Street Private Equity Case Challenge (PECC), generously supported by Chicago-area healthcare investment firm Water Street Healthcare Partners, is a case competition that enables teams from Chicago Booth to assess the potential for a leveraged buyout of a publicly listed company.

To participate, Chicago Booth students must form teams, select from a list of case options posted in the early fall term, and apply with a case and financial model.

From the pool of applicants, six teams are selected to participate in a Semi Finals round to interview with a panel of private equity judges. Following the Semi Finals round, three teams advance to the Booth Finals, where they formally present their proposals to a panel of private equity judges, who select a winning team to advance to the Oxford Global PE Challenge.

Read more on the Private Equity Case Challenge here.

Oxford Global PE Competition

The winner of the PECC is given the opportunity to compete against teams from other elite business schools in the Oxford Global PE Challenge for a cash prize.

Key Dates and Deadlines

Applications are currently closed.

Application and Eligibility

Eligibility and Team Rules

  • The Water Street Private Equity Case Challenge is open to Chicago Booth students, including MBA students in the Full-Time, Evening, and Weekend programs, Master in Management students, and Master in Finance students. EMBA students are ineligible.
  • Teams must consist of exactly four students.
  • Teams must include at least one member without prior full-time private equity experience.
  • Gender-balanced teams are encouraged.
  • Teams may use any widely-available resources (e.g. company data and equity research reports) to develop their application, which must include the following information and be submitted online by the deadline. In their analysis, teams should assess premium to latest trade price.
  • If you are looking for teammates, please fill in your details on this PECC team-building spreadsheet and check frequently for updates.

Application Components:

  • Resumes of all team members, combined alphabetically by last name and submitted in a single PDF file
  • A presentation, not to exceed 25 slides, submitted as a single PDF file, which includes:
    • Executive summary (investment rationale/key conclusions)
    • Investment Thesis (key merits and key risks)
    • Company description (location, history, etc.)
    • Market overview (growth drivers, value chain, customers, suppliers, key players, etc.)
    • Business overview (business model, competition, etc.)
    • Historic financial analysis
    • Business plan/growth drivers
    • Strategy for growth and value creation opportunities; 100 day plan
    • Forecast financials (including key assumptions)
    • Debt/capital structure (including credit stats)
    • Valuation/multiples (comparables, LBO analysis, etc.)
    • Exit options and target buyers
    • Returns (money multiple and IRR, sensitivities to the business plan, breakdown of IRR drivers amongst EBITDA growth, debt pay down, and change in purchase multiple)
    • Key areas to diligence
    • Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues
  • A financial and valuation model, submitted as both a printable Excel and a PDF file, which includes:
    • Operational assumptions
    • Operational model and forecasts
    • Valuation
    • Returns (money multiple and IRR, sensitivities to the business plan, breakdown of IRR drivers amongst EBITDA growth, debt pay down, and change in purchase multiple)

About Water Street

Water Street Healthcare Partners is a longtime supporter of the Private Equity Case Challenge. In addition to financial sponsorship, the healthcare investment firm helps prepare the winning team for Oxford’s global PE challenge.

Based in Chicago, Water Street manages more than $7 billion of equity capital to invest in and grow healthcare businesses. Its team, which includes a number of Booth alumni, is comprised of a distinctive blend of investment professionals, healthcare executives and functional specialists. Working closely with founders and management teams, Water Street focuses its industry expertise and resources on building market-leading healthcare businesses.

It has completed more than 165 investments and strategic acquisitions to build 45+ companies that are contributing to a stronger healthcare system.

To learn more about Water Street, or  for more information on Water Street and its family of healthcare companies please visit waterstreet.com or call 312-506-2900.