Quantile Capital: Which Businesses Deserve the Next Rupee?

Strategy
hard50 min0 submissions
Bain
Scenario

Quantile Capital is a asset management group operating in UK. The board has asked for a portfolio review before setting next year's capital plan.

Three business units:

UnitRevenueGrowthOperating marginCapital employedMarket share
Core£750 M+3%19%£449 M29%
Adjacency£201 M+32%9%£402 M5%
Legacy£242 M-6%8%£388 M19%

The group's weighted average cost of capital is 14%.

The CEO is instinctively drawn to the Adjacency business — it is growing fastest and gets the most attention internally. The CFO points out that Legacy still throws off cash. A board member has asked, bluntly, whether the group should own all three at all.

There is capital for one major investment next year, or for none if the right answer is to return it.

Supporting data

units

unitrevenuegrowth pctcapital employedmarket share pctoperating margin pct
Core75034492919
Adjacency2013240259
Legacy242-6388198
wacc pct14

derived hints

roce pct
31.7,4.5,5
Your task

Advise the board. Your answer should provide:

  1. Analysis — assess each unit on the economics and on the group's right to win. Compute returns on capital employed rather than describing them.
  2. Risks — what your recommendation depends on, and what would change it.
  3. Recommendation — a keep, fix or exit call for each unit, and where the capital goes.

State any assumptions you make.

Ready to move forward? Up next: Quantile Capital: Where Should the Acquisition Budget Go?Next question
How you'll be graded

100 points, 60% to pass.

  • strategic fit25
  • recommendation20
  • portfolio logic30
  • quantitative analysis25
Hint
Reveal suggested structure

Attractiveness vs right-to-win per unit; ROCE vs WACC; shared capabilities test; capital allocation decision