Five talented SDA Bocconi Business School students have won the prestigious Insead Private Equity Case Competition

Milano, 9 December 2019
Five talented SDA Bocconi Business School students have won the prestigious Insead Private Equity Case Competition, one of the world’s most highly regarded contest in this field. 

Felipe Pedrosa, Oscar Teja, Fernando Perez and Matteo Maruffi from MBA 45 and Sabrina Poelderl from MBA 44 competed against teams of students from some of the world’s best business schools including London Business School, IESE Business School, Insead, Rotterdam School of Management.

SDA Bocconi’s team presented its winning business idea in front of a judging panel of senior industry executives and professors from companies including Atena Equity Partners, FnB Private Equity, Ernst & Young, Innovargy and Apax Partners. 

Hosted by INSEAD Private Equity & Venture Capital Club (IPEC), the Case Competition invites the teams from the business schools worldwide to compete against each other to solve a real, present business challenge regarding a take-private LBO of a leading frozen food company.

All the teams need to cover a Value Creation Plan, an Investment Risks Analysis, a Proposed Transaction and Capital Structure, Returns (MOIC & IRR) and Sensitivity analyses, a Due Diligence assessment and an Exit Strategy.

More specifically teams were asked to advise how to deal a 6bn€ LBO of Nomad Foods, one of the largest European frozen food companies, and how to position the target business. SDA proposal was to leverage the company as the premium/healthy-organic/high-quality brand in the market.

SDA Bocconi passed the first qualifying round and participated in an extremely competitive final against Insead, LBS and IESE teams.

Member of the SDA Bocconi winning team Felipe Pedrosa said: “It was an amazing energy and now the feeling is one of “mission accomplished”: one challenging LBO analysis, the best students from top business schools in Europe, senior/expert judges with tough questions and reflections, and then there was our team that, despite the different backgrounds and challenges, was super focused and worked amazingly well! We did it”.

Ultimately the SDA Team won the judges over with their pitch for a new growth strategy in Eastern Europe and reshape of the value proposition to help build trust with the millennial consumer group. 

“I had the opportunity to be inspired by a great team. Preparing the Case Study and sharing the stage with them was an experience second to none, each one of us gave 110% for the project with willingness and passion. Highly prepared teams from the top Business Schools presented their plan and they all did an awesome job!” says Oscar Teja, another team member. 

 “Felt absolutely crazy to win against teams like Insead and LBS, but our team spirit and curiosity together with a great drive helped us to win. What an amazing ending to an unforgettable MBA” declares Sabrina Poelderl, who will see her graduation from SDA Bocconi in December 2019.

“It was a very challenging and demanding experience in a very competitive environment, where a very outside the box approach was needed to succeed” confirms Fernando Perez.

 “Assessing challenging and complex deal opportunities is one of the activities that both energizes and inspiries me the most. The adrenaline of pitching an idea, and actively delivering responses for tough questions from industry experts was amazing! Travelling to Insead and presenting our solution to such a distinct jury was a unique and unforgettable experience” concludes Matteo Maruffi.

SDA success in the competition highlights the collaborative benefits of being in a top MBA program. Being at a school like SDA Bocconi means being able to team up with other MBA students and combine forces to take advantage of opportunities like Insead’s Case Competition.

SDA Bocconi School of Management