Publications
Publications
- May 1994 (Revised December 1997)
- HBS Case Collection
Sealed Air Corporation 's Leveraged Recapitalization (A)
Abstract
Less than a year after Sealed Air embarked on a program to improve manufacturing efficiency and product quality, the company borrowed almost 90% of the market value of its common stock and paid it out as a special dividend to shareholders. Management purposefully and successfully used the leveraged recapitalization as a watershed event, creating a crisis that disrupted the status quo and promoted internal change, which included establishing a new objective, changing compensation systems, and reorganizing manufacturing and capital budgeting processes.
Keywords
Citation
Wruck, Karen, and Brian Barry. "Sealed Air Corporation 's Leveraged Recapitalization (A)." Harvard Business School Case 294-122, May 1994. (Revised December 1997.)