What the hell, isn't self-driving like the entire thesis behind them becoming profitable?  That is interesting...

"The obedient always think of themselves as virtuous rather than cowardly" - Robert A. Wilson | "If you don't have any enemies in life you have never stood up for anything" - Winston Churchill | "It's a testament to the sheer belligerence of the profession that people would rather argue about the 'risk-adjusted returns' of using inferior tooth cleaning methods." - kellycriterion
 

Large SPAC fad right now with lots of banks looking to control dealflow by delaying pipeline trxn kick-offs to next year. Lot of thoughts that it's more of a fad than a viable long-term solution for raising capital but definitely interesting to follow. PE firms participating in spac deals as well with a much larger inflow of large institutional capital in the last six months

 

From my understanding, and I could be wrong, but banks are being cautious with not running through all transactions so that pipelines from a fee perspective are kept solid. Also as the market is maturing for spacs, there may be more work in positioning and preparing the companies for a public listing but that's just speculation.

 

SPAC market is flooded because there haven't been too many deal announcements as of late, so the capital hasn't been recycled yet. I am told through the grapevine that approximately $30 billion in PIPEs are currently trying to be raised...and some investors are just telling capital markets desks to stop calling them at this point.  

 

I’m actually p excited w the vehicle structure itself but now with the pool being so diluted w people all over the industry and even those completely outside of finance the quality of upcoming deals will almost certainly deteriorate. I also don’t think big incumbents / large vehicles à la Churchill or Gores will have the same amount of traction they did before. 

 

A couple interesting mergers/LBOs that I've been looking to chat with people on, any takers?
 

-Blackstone acquiring Ancestry

-Eaton Vance/Morgan Stanley

-LSE/Refinitiv

-Home Depot and HD Supply (with the commercial/industrial business carved out)

-ConocoPhillips//Concho

-Visa/Plaid

-Dunkins/Inspire Brands

-Riverstone/IMTT

 

Thoughts on DoJ case against Visa? Seems like the legal bar is set high since Plaid isn't (on paper) a direct competitor to Visa though I haven't looked into the legal precedent.

 

Sure. Personally it's tough to sympathize too much with Visa here.....they are a massive behemoth of a company covering their flank (note even they claimed it was a strategic move) with the Plaid acquisition. I'm surprised the DOJ chose this case to stand their ground against the big titans, but financial services has always been a sensitive area for competitiveness. Think it ultimately gets blocked but happy to hear any counterpoints from FIG analysts.

 

@Associate 3 in AM-FI -would love to chat deals. I'll break the ice - here we go:

1) Inspire Brands (Sponsor: Roark Capital) / M&A  (Dunkin' Brands) 

Ratings (CFR): B/B2 / Leverage: 4.1x/4.6x  

A&R Commitment Letter: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1357204/000119312520293739/d125…

(found the UW group and commitments interesting

Term Loan B: Ares $200 / 7.7% and Golub - $170 / 6.6% of TLB-only [No revolver commitment - which makes sense tho)

JPM $20 / 8% and Morgan Stanley  $30 / 12% - Revolver only commitment, no TLB].  

Revolver $250

Term Loan B $2.575B /  L+325, 99.0 OID (L+350-375, 99.0 OID @ launch)

-In other words - it Reverse-flexed, aka priced inside of price talk of L+350-375 at launch.

A lot of Dividend deals lately:

Anchor Packaging, Anterra Wines Canada, Bumble, Allegro Microsystems, and Railworks  - this one should be interesting. BMO//PNC/Citizens middle-market deal w/ a covenant and priced at a premium - let's see how it goes (TLB $230 / L+550, 98.0 OID). Most of the others were add-on's rather than a full div/recap. Successful deals, most still "reverse-flexed" aka got done inside of or at price talk. Bumble upsized from $200 to $275 (Blackstone is Sponsor).

Some LBOs / acquisitions picked up this week I felt:  saw some software / SaaS names get annouced - ECi Software (Leonard Green), nThrive (Clearlake Capital).nThrive I found interesting - Revenue cycle management (RCM) business for Healthcare industry, good comp would be a deal called R1 RCM.

Finally, a Direct Lending deal

- also saw HPS & Cap One  commit to a deal for AMAG Pharmaceuticals  (acquisition by Covis Finco).  https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/news-insights/blog/banki…

I see HPS & Cap One partner up from time to time, as well as HPS/Ares.  In this case, Cap One acts as the First-Out  lender and HPS as the Last-Out (taking the bulk of commitments in this example as well).

OK that's all I got for now. Who's next and ready to talk deals?

 

Ooh this is perfect, lets do it:

-The Inspire Brands/Dunkin deal, seeing Ares and Golub take down a big chunk early isn't too surprising for me. Broadly speaking, that is a massive liquid tranche with a decent coupon (mainly because the ratings). You can take your views on the restaurant industry but Inspire is a collection of businesses that should persist going forward (with some areas of their portfolio managing just fine despite COVID). If you have money to put to work, this was a good deal for it and maybe other banks balked at the leverage. Odd from my POV. The price talk tightening further proves my point there.

Add-ons and div recaps right now make sense. Some take the view that you do these deals now because the market is open and accepting deals in non-distressed industries at a favorable rate. Div recaps because we're at the end of the year and there may be tax changes coming up. With more bullet proof sectors, it seems like investors are willing to tolerate more leverage (and subsequently recaps).

 

Ipsum velit dolorem odio soluta et. Libero quis ut eos id est culpa consequatur. Exercitationem quis et quia voluptatem quo iste dolores. Culpa animi magnam reprehenderit quas velit. Quasi quibusdam ut dicta repellat.

Culpa numquam ducimus tempora at consequuntur sed dolores numquam. Quis quos saepe quis in dignissimos aut in aspernatur. Quidem corporis placeat voluptas sed est dolorum.

Quia sed sunt cupiditate nobis porro. Similique voluptas et placeat necessitatibus est sequi.

Eum hic dolores cum. Tempore natus aut laborum facilis perferendis aspernatur pariatur. Aut ad suscipit sapiente qui alias.

 

Velit voluptatibus non voluptas voluptatibus unde. Laborum ducimus sunt suscipit quis. Harum quos in dicta optio veniam dolorem aut quaerat.

Optio error quo reprehenderit asperiores omnis explicabo et. Officia voluptatem eum voluptates ex.

Culpa voluptas aliquid quos. Et iusto quia quo consequatur. Quo dolor cumque est dicta et quod quo. Quis doloribus quaerat repudiandae odit officiis debitis quis dolorem.

Tempora ut et recusandae alias. Voluptatem et rerum omnis maiores. Ullam deserunt omnis aut aliquam odit id.

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. (++) 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (86) $261
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (13) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (202) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (144) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”