Hey guys,

I have a quick question regarding the acquisition of a public company. This is pretty basic, but one that I never figured out (and probably should ahead of upcoming interviews):

Using Softbank's acquisition of Sprint as an example, Softbank acquired 70% of Sprint last year (still awaiting regulatory approval).

Let's assume that they're paying for shares of Sprint all in cash, that Sprint is trading at $10/share, and their acquisition is at a price of $15/share.

Given the fact that these 70% shares of Sprint that Softbank is acquiring is held by the public, how exactly can Softbank say that they're acquiring 70% of Sprint? How do they know that the people holding onto shares of Sprint will actually sell their shares for $15/share?

Monkeys,
-Long time lurker, first time poster. Some background on me...
-Non-target state school 3.55 qpa, Finance major (3.8 gpa), Econ minor (December 2012 grad)
-Taking CFA L1 in June

I recently accepted an offer at a commercial bank as an RE credit analyst (starting in 3 weeks). The position sounds interesting and I feel like I'll definitely learn a lot about the industry. However, my ultimate career goal is something in valuation/acquisitions. Would it be possible to move to a REIT after a year or so? Has anyone ever made the switch? Just looking for some guidance/opinions here, thanks guys.

I'm interning at a PE FoF and after looking at a lot at overviews of funds' investments, I'm slightly puzzled by the use of EV and investment cost. I understand that when you estimate EV, it is calculated as ebitda times a multiple plus net debt.

But what about at acquisition? I don't really understand the connection between investment cost and EV at acquisition. It was explained to me that investment cost is the cash that the private equity fund pays for the investment. Let's say they have 100% ownership, does that mean that the investment cost is what the company's former owners receive?

this is coming from someone who is completely new to trading asking for information. i know the answer is "it depends" but from your experiences for a long time what is the normal trend you see?

company A buys out company B. company A has been trading at around $20/share. company B been trading around $5/share.

1. if i own company A stock, what usually happens to it?
2. if i own company B stock, what usually happens to it?
3. where do i make more money for my shares? is it better to own A or B?

I'm not sure how to note/format this on my resume and would appreciate any help.

I was hired by company X. Soon after I started, company Y acquired company X. Who do I list as my employer on my resume? Which should it be?

1) Company X (acquired by Company Y)
2) Company Y (formerly Company X)
3) just Company X
4) etc.

Also, my work was related to the acquisition and want to note this in a bullet, but if i choose option 1 or 2 above, how can I phrase (the bullet and/or the title of my employer) so as to not be repetitive?

Thanks!

A few months ago Coty and Avon were all over M&A news. Now Coty have withdrawn their offer because of Avon’s lack of engagement in discussions. Do you think this was the right thing to do? It was a timeline of 2 months. This seems a bit unreasonable given it’s a $10.7bn deal and that many other deals have taken a longer time to put into motion e.g. Kraft/Cadbury.

Are Coty on a buying spree or just on an impatient buying spree?

From Bloomberg:

Facebook Inc. (FB), the world’s biggest social-networking service, agreed to buy the Instagram mobile photo-sharing application for about $1 billion in cash and stock, its biggest acquisition yet.

The transaction is expected to close later this quarter, Menlo Park, California-based Facebook said today in a statement on its site. The company plans to let Instagram remain independent from Facebook.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-09/facebook-...

discuss.

On March 27, Foxconn agreed to buy roughly 10% of Sharp, in addition to an LCD factory that Sharp lost a sweet chunk on.

Is this not the highest multiple that you have ever heard of? I haven't gotten to look at the financials, but 7.3x revenue is out of this world. I assume this seems out of place in part because of high margins, but still, how much growth can you realistically price in? One thing I don't understand about paying for growth upfront, is that rapid aggressive growth now becomes your benchmark.

Let's break this down for a moment. Say they have 50% EBITDA margins (astronomical) on revenues of $300MM ($2.15bn paid / 7.3x multiple) then EBITDA is $150MM. Even if you take out a measly $40MM in taxes, that's $110MM of free cash to the firm. Day one, that's an annual unlevered return of 110/2150 = 5%!

According to multiple sources familiar with the situation, the major national pharmacy company Walgreens (WAG) is in final negotiations to acquire BioScrips(BIOS). The company is looking to expand its platform in Pharmacy Benefit Management (PBM). The move comes in light of failed contract negotiations with Express Scripts (ESRX) on renewal of their existing relationship.

Bioscrips provides pharmacy products and services as well as mail order services and the acquisition will serve to bolster Walgreen's existing scope as the nation's leading pharmacy provider. Sources close to the negotiations also suggest that the acquisition price could be 50% above the previous market close of $6.73 and expect an announcement to be imminent.

Industry newb here...

I have read a few articles recently about how the volume of private equity transactions is expected to decline during this period of market volatility as firms are waiting for more market clarity before making major transactions.

Given the drastic price depreciation of companies in virtually every industry/sector (gold excluded), wouldn't this be a good time for PE firms to acquire some of the companies that have been hit the hardest?

Does any one know some successful cases in which PE company or investment related company acquired investment banking(in USA ,HK,Singapore ,Sweden or Norway) during the previous years, I mean in the previous five years .
Thank you

Stifel financial to invest $40 million in Miller Buckfire according to WSJ article posted below.

Thoughts?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240527023047...

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/microsoft-pact-nvidia-cou...

http://www.rumorpedia.net/microsoft-sets-up-acquis...

Interesting move on Microsoft's part. They have no plans to acquire nVidia in the immediate future, but since Windows 8 is launching on ARM, I'm going to assume that Microsoft is very interested in nVidia's Tegra ARM technology. Additionally, this prevents Apple, who has had its eye on nVidia for some time, from placing a bid. nVidia is definitely a prize. They're one of only two big players in the graphics processing industry (the other being AMD, which acquired ATi Technologies about 6 years ago) and their mobile technology is already gaining a lot of traction.

What would you guys think of this description for duties as a summer intern. This is for a unique patent acquisition and valuation firm....

"Among the projects that I could immediately require your assistance.
Productization / Marketing launch Assistance related to transaction information services
Due Diligence and Compliance Requirement Research and Findings Related to Initiating Coverage for Institutional Investors on Select Sector"

It sounds good as background to going into IB but I need some opinions...

How does a company go about using the services of an investment bank? Do they email an MD? Or do they call a phone number saying they want to use the bank's services? How do they get the ball rolling?

Please share with me any signals or indications that a potential non-public acquisition may be in the works.

This might be takeover defense strategies or anything "out there" that may be a signal. Please list out any obvious (open market repurchases) or any obscure indications.

I intend to do detailed research into any interesting ideas.

Thanks for your help

So it's nice to see some big IB deals and capital raises in the headlines. GM's IPO, Intel's acquisition of McAfee and BHP attempting to acquire Potash.

GM
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240527487036...

Intel
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240527487044...

BHP
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240527487036...

If you are a business customer of Adobe (for example) and they get acquired by IBM, does anything change for you as the customer?

I am a sophomore in college and looking to break into i-banking next summer in NY. My Father's company is in the process of acquiring a smaller business of the same industry, just in different locations. It is a strategic play to expand the customer base where our business is not currently in. There is a high amount of fixed assets being acquired in the deal.

I have been doing a lot of reading on the company from which has been provided and can play as big as a role as I want to in this deal. I am just wondering if anyone could give me any advice on what I could do to help me gain experience and stuff to talk about in interviews...

I am in the process right now of working on a merger model.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

As opposed to a strategic

Is an internship in Strategic & Acquisition Finance a good thing to do before an m&a one? Knowing that at the moment, i probably won't find any in m&a (non target school).

What about the lifestyle in acquisition finance? The comp for analyts compared to ECM/DCM & M&A? and the exit ops?
thx

I had a chance to talk very briefly with a friend of a friend of a friend. I'd say he's in his 40s now and was the owner of what sounds like a decent-sized business that he initially inherited and finally sold for a nondisclosed price last year. Since then he's played with real estate on the side but he mentioned that he's also looking to buy a couple companies. He added that maybe he could find me a job at one of them. I got his contact info and I'm gonna ask him to meet for coffee or something next week.

When he says "a couple companies," I doubt he means anything humongous, but because I was a finance major (just graduated) and am interested in the dealmaking/transactional side of business, does it seem like there'd be any way I could work for him in the scouting and purchasing process? I imagine doing that could be interesting experience, considering the fact that I could never get hired at an investment bank in this climate.

If this is a realistic idea, then how would I propose helping him out? What specifically, e.g. due diligence? Tinkering with a valuation model? Forensic accounting?

Hi folks!

I'm very interested in REPE and would like to find out about the perspectives one has within a REPE firm's asset management and acquisition division respectively in terms of duties, pay, responsibility and the possibility of becoming a partner. Moreover what are the possibilities of switching within both areas?

I'd really appreciate any insights!

Hi,

Can someone please direct me to a website where I can gather information about Transactions that have happened within the last 12 months? This is for a comp I am running on a Quick service Food company.

Thank you,
N.