A Better Yoga Block: Shanti Creek Yoga Products

Abstract

This case examines the creative strategies that the Lauder family used to monetize their position in Estee Lauder Companies, Inc. in the 1990s while deferring their tax liability on the appreciated position. The strategies include the use of the company's initial public offering to engage in a short-against-the-box transaction and the issuance of hybrid securities known as TRACES. The case allows the students to consider a variety of monetization strategies and the tax and non-tax consequences to those strategies. Students are also exposed to estate tax planning, taxation of derivatives and tax risk issues.