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Saad Rasool, a junior from Karachi, Pakistan, researched recent U.S. and international mergers that have changed the corporate landscape in an independent study this spring with Rose Marie L. Bukics, professor of economics and business.
Rasool eyed three mergers in the financial industry and three in the consumer products sector, examining the impact of companies’ financial statements on mergers and comparing the earnings of the two separate firms with the new entity created through the merger.
In the financial area, he explored the mergers of J.P. Morgan with Chase Manhattan Bank; Credit Suisse First Boston with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette; and UBS Warburg with Paine Webber. The consumer products jointures were AOL with Time Warner; Unilever with Best Foods and Philip Morris with Nabisco.
Rasool focused on what spurs companies to merge and what they expect to gain from it, Bukics explains. She cites the controversial Daimler-Chrysler automotive merger as one in which “financial positives never materialized.”
“Saad strove to see if common threads emerge regardless of the industry,” says Bukics, who is the author of An Investor’s Quick Reference: Financial Statement Analysis: the Basics and Beyond and coauthor of The Handbook of Credit and Accounts Receivables Management; Accounting and Finance for Lawyers; Medical Practice Accounting and Finance; and Debits, Credits and Cash: What Every Small Business Needs to Know About Accounting and Finance.
“The project was unique in that Saad obtained source documents, detailed financial records, directly from the companies. That distinguished this from normal independent studies.”
Rasool says one of his main motivations in the project was to gain an edge for applying for jobs in investment banking. “I want to go into mergers and acquisitions,” he says. “The project went great. I enjoyed it thoroughly.”
“Being a small but well-resourced college with outstanding professors, Lafayette provides the ‘correct’ environment for students to explore their potential,” Rasool continues. “Also there’s a unique opportunity for the students at the undergraduate level to research and study areas of their interest that are not covered in the regular course curriculum, or to study other areas in-depth. Such opportunities are only available to students at the graduate level at other schools.”
Rasool is an international peer counselor, a member of the multicultural awards committee, and editor of Worldwise, the International Student Association’s publication.
Bukics’ areas of interest and expertise include financial theory, financial statement analysis, accounting and auditing, and French commerce. A Certified Public Accountant in Pennsylvania, she has been a member of the Lafayette faculty since 1980.
With Roxanne Lalande, associate professor of foreign languages and literatures, Bukics developed and teaches a distinctive three-week Interim Session course French Commerce and Culture. Students travel with the professors to Paris to learn about the financial reporting aspects of France’s business environment, the ever-changing economic marketplace of the European Community, and French culture and its impact on manufacturing, production, and marketing.
In 1999 Bukics received Lafayette’s Marquis Distinguished Teaching Award for distinctive and extraordinary teaching.