Top-tier schools compete in Finance Case Competition

A team of students from Rice University took first place and the grand prize of $5,000 at this year's Rolanette and Berdon Lawrence Finance Case Competition. The competition took place at the Freeman School on April 17.

A team representing Vanderbilt took second place and a prize of $3,000, and a team from Emory took third place and a prize of $2,000.

Other schools participating in this year's competition were University of North Carolina, University of South Carolina, Georgia Tech and Tulane.

The case chosen for this year's competition focused on a geological survey company conducting an IPO in both the U.S. and Europe. According to Associate Professor of Finance Venkat Subramaniam, who helped organize the competition, it was just the second time in the event's 13-year history that a case relating to the energy industry was selected for the competition.

Judging the competition were Joe Agular, senior partner and energy analyst with Johnson Rice & Co. in New Orleans; Claire Liu, manager of the Corporate Finance Group at LyondellBasell Industries in Houston; and Curt D. Karges, managing director of J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. in Houston and head of the firm's mid-cap investment banking client coverage in the southeastern United States.

The finance case competition began in 1997 and has been sponsored by Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence since 1998. Berdon Lawrence (BBA '64, MBA '65) is chairman of Kirby Corp., an operator of inland tank barges based in Houston. He is a former member of the Board of Tulane and serves on the Business School Council.