Interview technicals with past deal experience
Hey guys,
I am currently in the middle of preparing for full-time interviews in the fall. While reading through the M&I guide and comments from this forum, I have seen people mention that generally when you have past IBD deal experience, the interview flow is something like this:
- Tell me about yourself
- Walk me through one of your past deals deal
- Technical questions "re-framed" in the context of your deals
My question is, can anybody elaborate on this this third bullet regarding technicals in the context of deal experience? Any past examples of this that you guys have had?
Also, obviously no two interviews are the same, but do you guys agree with this general flow of interview questions when you have past deal experience. What's missing?
Thanks for the help!
I've been asked to walk through a deal since I have listed transaction experience and two deals on my resume a la M&I basically talking about the business, investment merits, the model and its drivers, etc. essentially basic stuff that would be in the pitch.
Additional topics could be anything, but think about questions they'd ask in the context of basic tech. questions i.e. instead of just asking how to calculate FCF asking what considerations needed to be taken into account when determining FCF in a model for one of your deals considering the type of business. Basically what you said... tech. re-framed.
Interested as well.
Could someone that went through FT interviews give us some examples on what kind of tech questions they may ask?
Deal experience in interviews? (Originally Posted: 04/19/2010)
I have done an internship at a small venture capital and am going to interview for BB FT IBD soon. I am just curious to know how much they could ask me about specific deals? The deals that I worked on were quite simple, all cash deals, investments of about $10mn. I mostly did a lot of industry work (read industry specific journals, newsletters etc) and didn't do any actual modelling but was more responsible for checking the sell-side IBankers' assumptions in the model.
On my CV I stated: 1. Analysed IMs 2. Valuation analysis at entry and exit using multiples and DCF 3. Actively invoived in post-investment operational improvement
My question is, how much would they want to drill in to the specific deals? The internship was almost a year ago, would they expect me to know about the industry as well (multiples etc?)
Thanks!
bump...
Pm'ed
Talking about transactional experience in interviews (Originally Posted: 12/12/2007)
Wanted peoples' opinion on the following question: In an iB interview (for a FT position), is it considered ok or taboo to talk about transactions: (1) you are working on that are not yet public, or (2) which never went through. Am asking because often, there have been cases where the transaction was an interesting one (interesting structure, tax issues, etc...) from which one learned a bunch of things, but its still ongoing and had not been made public yet, or it never ended up happening (for whatever reason).
Especially in the case of (1), is it ok to talk about the type of transaction in very broad terms (without revealing any identities of parties of course), or is that considered taboo and an automatic ding for subsequent rounds?
Grateful for your views
When I interviewed for PE jobs in the spring this year I had only closed 1 major deal so I had to speak about transactions that were in process/not yet public/never went through.
Interviewers understand that deals often fail (especially M&A deals), take longer than expected and that when you interview you may not have a closed deal to speak to.
As long as you can be very specific about the issues and what you learned while keeping everything else anonymous, you are fine. For banks you will want to be VERY careful about keeping everything else anonymous. If the group you're interviewing with is in the same industry group be especially cautious, and consider not even mentioning the industry the company was in - just give high-level financial/transactional details.
Hope this helps, PM me with anymore questions.
yes, as long as you don't violate confidentiality, it's absolutely okay to talk about your role on deals that didn't close or are in progress.
How about Summer Analyst experience? I did work on 1 deal end to end. Most other deals were closed after I left and I handled parts of the initial models. Would it be wise to put them on my CV and later talk about them in FT interviews?
Definitely put the 1 end-to-end deal. For the others you should be selective and list the ones that you learned the most from (not necessarily the ones you worked on the most or spent the most time on) and can tell a good story around. I would not put every single deal you had a part of if the list is long; it's better to focus on a few that you can discuss in-depth.
If you created the initial model for a deal that then went through you can discuss it. With all interviews they care more about your role, and what you did then the exact transaction. Unless of course they were involved or just curious about that particular deal, then watch out you could get seriously grilled.
For non-public or or deals that didn't go through you can still say what you did, just not the confidential stuff. If you handled modeling and transaction services, coordinated consultants, then it doesn't matter what the names on the deal were, just what you did.
Never put anything on your resume (with regards to deals) that you can't talk about all of the public aspects of.
Rule of thumb is to treat any unannounced deals like a teaser.
Thanks all for the quick responses, much appreciated!
Transaction details in interview (Originally Posted: 02/19/2012)
When you are asked to talk about your transaction / project experience, can you go into details (i.e. talking about insights not obtainable from public sources) or just mention the most basic information and your role within the project? Could name of the clients be mentioned if the transaction is not yet complete? Could you get into trouble for mentioning deal specifics?
This question is not directly IB specific, so sorry if it doesn't fit here and thanks for answers
Do not say anything that is not public information.
When I interviewed, the interviewers tend to really like the background I give on the transaction. For example:
"xxx industry pros started a venture, grew the company to $ xx company and are looking to cash out to start their next venture. Through a relationship, CEO engaged us for a sell side M&A transaction to a private firm. Company is a $ xx company with $xx EBITDA in the xxx sector"
In addition to not divulging non-public info, keep your explanation punchy and high-level. Start by telling the interviewer the "Reader's Digest version," if you will. Tell a story that shows your enthusiasm for why the deal was happening, interesting developments and what ultimately happened.
Do NOT drone on with a laundry list of bullet points and financial metrics. No matter how well you avoid sounding dry and monotonous, the sheer nature of a laundry list will bore your interviewer to tears. Start with the Reader's Digest version first, and give granular details on margins, growth rates, premiums, product lines, etc. when asked.
How much can interviewers probe into past deals you worked on? (Originally Posted: 09/12/2015)
Hi guys,
I have an interview coming up with a large back and I am trying to scramble together the information about the past deals I worked on during my summer internship at a boutique investment bank 3 years ago. It was a while back and a lot of the details and numbers on the deals are foggy. I am just wondering how deep can the interviewers probe into what I did? I can answer the general questions about the deal amount, revenues, EBITDA, growth, etc. But specific information about our clients like the profit margins I do not remember. Could someone shed some light as to how specific the deal discussion questions are going to be and maybe share their own experience during interviews?
Thanks a lot!
Not just about the multiples of the deal, because anyone can just recall a bunch of numbers. For example, what were the assumptions of the growth projections and why was it set like that?
I believe the interviewers would prefer that you relay your knowledge on the deal from a business perspective, i.e. the assumptions for the business and how it made sense, the rationale of this deal, etc. Specific discussion on the financial modelling may be used if you did indicate that you helped out in that aspect of the deal, such as WACC.
from my experience, the financials were not that important. i mean it is 3 years ago and maybe you are even not allowed to disclose those financials?
when i got interviewed and asked about past deals it was more or like what type (exclusive sale vs. auction), what were the bidders (strategic vs. financial) and why did the company choose company x as the buyer; what was the purchase price maybe (if allowed to disclose), what were your tasks when working on this deal, what was the rationale of the company to sell the division / what was the rationale of the buyer to acquire the company (synergies?); if it was a financial buyer - he already had other portfolio companies in this area or was it the first one?
hope this helps.
Will interviewers ask about past transactions? (Originally Posted: 08/04/2015)
Hey everyone,
I'm a rising junior and am currently interning at a boutique investment bank and have been working on some deals. I've included some of them on my resume and was wondering if interviewers during recruiting for the bulge bracket internships will ask about the specifics of the deals. For example I put that I developed models for a company generating $X million in EBITDA. Aside from asking the assumptions I made and what industry it was etc, will the interviewers ever ask what companies they were? I am unsure if I am allowed to disclose this information and additionally if I am comfortable doing so. Please advise.
Thank you for your help!
bump
They will not expect you to disclose the company but they will definitely ask you technicals about the transactions
I'm fine with that. I am just worried because I exaggerated the EBITDA of the companies. I applied to a program through one of the bulge brackets and really regret this, and would like to switch the EBITDA's back to what they actually were for when I apply for the summer internship. But they might notice the differences on my new resume. What should I do? Is it possible that they look into these companies and my current firm? I know I fucked up and I regret it and will definitely revert back for all other applications to other banks, but please help me out here.
I highly doubt anyone is going to take the time out of their day to double check your EBITDA numbers
Really? I mean it's the difference between working on a deal valued at like $80 mil versus $15 mil
What can I disclose about prior deals in an IB interview (Originally Posted: 02/11/2013)
So I have an interview at a bank and am currently day dreaming about how I'm gonna knock the interviewer's socks off and get offered 1mm all in comp
But while I was thinking about it...if they ask me to talk about my prior deals (where the only details disclosed were the names of the companies), what can I/can't I talk about? (I've read M&I guides and what not but they're not very specific)
Obviously I can't tell them the purchase price, but what about the EBITDA multiple? If the company released some EBITDA info, then I pretty much just gave away the purchase price, right? Or what about the % of equity that was sold? Or the % of debt used?
It's hard to gauge whether some small details disclose anything or not...
thanks guys
I think usually they are more interested in what you did... so don't say purchase multiple, just say what the comps trading at.. talk about how you analyzed capital structure from public info...and discuss in e general context of.an industry trend
When I was asked about my deal experience I just gave a brief description of the companies nature, without disclosing the name. I disclosed EBITDA multiple and some other information during the course of the interview.
If you don't give company names, it is easier to give the financial multiples and such as you aren't tying them to a specific deal.
Similar question, I worked on a deal over the summer and it was recently announced. Can I not put the buyer/seller, but specify transaction value and what the company does in pretty detailed terms?
The more you specify in terms of companies involved or industry, the higher the risk someone has some form of knowledge or insight and will actually ask you intelligent questions you might not be prepared for. Thus, stay vague.
I normally give a range of the transaction value. I think that is fine to disclose, but would be more careful about the market cap -- I tend to stay general (small / mid / large). Industry is fine too on a high level ("[Specific chemical compound] supplier" versus "Industrial" company). I made this mistake once before, but got lucky that there weren't repercussions (we were opposite sites of a bake-off, and neither firm got the mandate). But yea, people do try to narrow down companies -- the banking community is only so big.
thanks i appreciate your answers
in my case the names were on my submitted resume, so now i'm more constrained. In addition there are some unresolved matters, so I want to be careful. It seems though that I can't really talk about it at all to the point where i can show him i know what I'm talking about. Seems I can't say anything other than "yes, i did an LBO for Company X and the EBITDA multiple was between 2 and 15x"
Do I have that right?
thanks again
Deal Specific Interview Questions (Originally Posted: 05/24/2010)
I have 3 or 4 live deals on my resume. I'm assuming I need to know ALL of them inside out? How do interviewers choose which ones they ask about?
Reason I ask is because I had an interview last year where I was asked about what the firm's EBITDA was, synergy numbers, margins, growth rates, leverage ratios, etc...
I have all this stuff burned onto my brain when I'm actually working on the deal, but once I'm done I need to purge it all to make room for the next deal I'm staffed on. I barely remember ANY of that stuff on the last deal I worked on... much less the ones before that. I know the most likely answer is I'll need to have all this stuff down cold for any deal I mentioned on my resume... but just wondering how some of you have dealt with this in the past. I would much rather focus on one deal in particular and be able to really flex my muscle on that one, rather than having to memorize all this shit on deals I haven't even thought about in a year and a half.
Besides the above stats, have you guys ever been asked other stuff... like the LBO Debt Package, terms, covenants, etc...?
Any input?
Good post. This may or may not have been covered before, but wouldn't hurt to get an update on this one. I'm guessing you should probably have a good idea about the basic assumptions and numbers, i.e. EBITDA and gross margins, leverage multiples, certain assumptions, etc. I don't think that should be TOO hard for a few deals -- I don't imagine they expect you to give exact numbers, but probably reasonably close figures.
Sorry to hijack, but what about interns that were involved in just one part of a transaction, eg, comps, so all i have listed is that i built a comps model...would i just have to know the ratios used? As opposed to extra details about the transaction?
Thats a good question... especially in restructuring deals where at the end of an engagement you're sometimes required to return/destroy everything you received from the client.
Any of you find yourself in this predicament? Its often times not as lax since there could be some serious consequences to someone seeing that you're still in possession of documents you shouldn't have.
Im going through the Vault PE Interview guide right now and they claim you need to know:
1- its alot of fucking work to rehash and memorize all these details on 3-5 deals going back 2 years; not that its impossible, but its just a pain in the ass when you're trying to squeeze it into full work days
2- its in stark contrast to what others on the forum have said about basic high level questions and some prodding questions about stuff you should know like valuation, IRR, revenue and EBITDA, growth and margins
I feel like the whole PE recruiting situation is such a cluster fuck. None of this in any way shape or form gauges your competence to do what you're being hired to do for 2 years. You're memorizing deal stats to prepare for interviews, seriously? Its like the kids they're interviewing literally have no god damn experience since PE recruiting officially starts when a prospective candidate's egg is fertilized... they have to resort to these types of "metrics". They might as well make you race around the office while balancing an egg on a spoon.
Actually, knowing the numbers cold is a significant part of your job as a PE associate. If you can't quickly refresh yourself on basic numbers like revenue, EBITDA, leverage, and margins, for deals you spent months working on, you're likely to struggle.
My experience is as follows. The interviewer: - lets you pick a deal to talk about (has always been the case for me) - asks you what your specific role/tasks where on the deal - wants to see that you have an understanding of the big picture (deal rational, was it retrospectively a good deal, etc.) - does not expect you to give very precise numbers (you do not need to know exact sales growth rates for the first five years, “approximately 5% a year”, “roughly 4x EBITDA leverage” are acceptable answers)
For the numbers, what I mostly discussed in interview was: EV, EV multiples, company growth, IRR drivers if an LBO (contribution of EBITDA growth, multiple expansion, etc.), sales growth, margins (gross margin, EBITDA margin, also relative to the industry), leverage multiples, debt structure (how many tranches, etc.), cost of debt. They never expected exact numbers but more of an overview. For example, if you can’t remember the spread on the tranche A debt or the cost of the mezz it’s no big deal. As long as you can give a range for each and demonstrate that you understand the link between subordination and cost you should be find.
Remember to stay confident. Chances are they know nothing about the deal (ok, maybe they were a buyer who lost the bid and know all about it..).
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