Onex Interview Questions

8 total interview insight submissions
Interview Experience (72%)

The Interview Experience is a score from 1 star (very negative) to 5 stars (very positive) generated based on the Interview Insights at this company.

The number you see in the middle of the doughnut pie chart is the simple average of these scores. If you hover over the various sections of the donut, you will see the % breakdown of each score given.

The percentile score in the title is calculated across the entire Company Database and uses an adjusted score based on Bayesian Estimates (to account for companies that have few interview insights). Simply put, as a company gets more reviews, the confidence of a "true score" increases so it is pulled closer to its simple average and away from the average of the entire dataset.

3.5
  • Very Negative
  • Negative
  • Neutral
  • Positive
  • Very Positive
Interview Difficulty (97%)

The Interview Difficulty is a score ranging from very difficult (red) to very easy (green) generated based on the Interview Insights at this company.

The number you see in the middle of the doughnut pie chart is the simple average of these scores. The higher the number, the more difficult the interviews on average. If you hover over the various sections of the doughnut, you will see the % breakdown of each score given.

The percentile score in the title is calculated across the entire Company Database and uses an adjusted score based on Bayesian Estimates (to account for companies that have few interview insights). Simply put, as a company gets more insights, the confidence of a "true score" increases so it is pulled closer to its simple average and away from the average of the entire data set.

3.5
  • Very Easy
  • Easy
  • Average
  • Difficult
  • Very Difficult

Interviews at Onex

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Filter by:
Year
Job Title
Group/Division
Location
Experience
Difficulty
1st Year Associate
Year 2020
Job Title 1st Year Associate
Group/Division Mergers and Acquisitions
Location London
Experience
Neutral
Difficulty
Average
Associate Consultant
Year 2010
Job Title Associate Consultant
Group/Division Prime Brokerage
Location Toronto
Experience
Neutral
Difficulty
Difficult
1st Year Associate
Year 2018
Job Title 1st Year Associate
Group/Division Private Equity
Location Toronto
Experience
Negative
Difficulty
Difficult
1st Year Analyst
Year 2016
Job Title 1st Year Analyst
Group/Division Generalist
Location Toronto
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Average
Intern
Year 2015
Job Title Intern
Group/Division Private Equity
Location Toronto
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Difficult
Intern
Year 2016
Job Title Intern
Group/Division N/A
Location Toronto
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Easy
Year 2015
Job Title
Group/Division Generalist
Location Toronto
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Difficult
1st Year Analyst
Year 2014
Job Title 1st Year Analyst
Group/Division Financial Institutions Group (FIG)
Location New York
Experience
Positive
Difficulty
Difficult

Interview Questions & Answers - Onex Examples

Associate Interview - Mergers and Acquisitions

Anonymous interview candidate in London
Interviewed: February 2020
Date Submitted: Feb 15, 2022
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
In-person
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
Phone Interview
Group Interview
Interview
It was at a recruiting event, and they had also held a special reception with some selected candidates. It was general discussions and a presentation by them and 1:1 convos etc but at the end they said they don't actually hire straight out of university which was odd as this was what the event was for.
Interview Questions
There wasn't any difficult ones, general background and employment history at this point
Sample Answer

Associate Interview - Prime Brokerage

Anonymous interview candidate in Toronto
Interviewed: June 2010
Date Submitted: Sep 03, 2018
Outcome
Declined Offer
Interview Source
Recruiter
Length of Process
2-3 months
Application
Phone Interview
1 on 1 Interview
Background Check
Interview
The hiring process was very detailed and more of the interview had to do with analysis of how you think
Interview Questions
Why did prime percentage go down and so you think it will stay at the same value or will it go up or down. And questions about myself and how much i want to get paid and my past experiences in fiance. Other questions I have read include short answers about morgage and if the stock for a particular company will open up or down and why you think it will so that. They want to see how you think dont be nervous just answer the question and have good good point to go along with your decision stay calm and good luck!
Sample Answer

1st Year Private Equity Associate Interview - Private Equity

Anonymous interview candidate in Toronto
Interviewed: March 2018
Date Submitted: Apr 07, 2018
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
Recruiter
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
1 on 1 Interview
Interview
Challenging behavioural and technical questions. Interviewer tried to throw you off by asking odd quesitons
Interview Questions
Technical Question:

1. If you had 2 million to buy a house and the bank was willing to lend 100k at 1%, 200k at 2%, 300k at 3% etc. How much would you borrow?

Eventually, interviewer said that your required rate of return on your own equity is 7% what does that mean?

2. You own a bakery and sell bread for $1. Everyday, people that come into the bakery will buy one piece of bread. The chance of 1 person coming into the bakery is 99%, 2 people is 98%, 3 people is 97% etc. how much bread should you make?
Sample Answer

Summer Analyst Interview - Generalist

Anonymous interview candidate in Toronto
Interviewed: 2016
Date Submitted: Nov 06, 2016
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
College / University / On Campus Recruiting
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
Phone Interview
Interview
2 rounds in total. One on phone interview and one in-person super day in Toronto.
The phone interview is 30 mins long.
Interview Questions
Why private equity?
Why Onex?
Talk about yourself.
Do a stock pitch: what's the overview? What are your invetsment thesis? What metrics did you use? how are these metrics comparing to the industry and its competitors? What's the company's competitive advantage in the market? Is it a good LBO candidate?
How to increase IRR? Why do PE firms do an LBO except for the cash flow that brings in? How does a PE firm bring up its return before selling out the business?What about in a acquisition perspective?
What's multiple arbitrage?
What's your extracurricular? Can you talk about it more?
Sample Answer

Summer Analyst Interview - Private Equity

Anonymous employee in Toronto
Interviewed: November 2015
Date Submitted: Jul 23, 2016
Outcome
Accepted Offer
Interview Source
College / University / On Campus Recruiting
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
Phone Interview
1 on 1 Interview
Background Check
Interview
First-round interviews were conducted via phone. These interviews were held by one associate and one senior associate at the firm. Successful applicants were then admitted to a super day at the Onex offices, which consisted of six back-to-back interviews with different investment professionals ranging from Senior Associate to Director in seniority. Offers were then handed out the next day.
Interview Questions
We are looking to purchase a residential home for $2 million. Theoretically, we have enough money in our bank account to acquire this house entirely with cash (we earn 6% on our cash). However, we can also take out debt using the following options:

$100k at 1% int.
$200k at 2% int.
$300k at 3% int.
$400k at 4% int.
$500k at 5% int.
$600k at 6% int.
$700k at 7% int.
$800k at 8% int.
$900k at 9% int.
$1 million at 10% int.

Assuming we want to optimize our purchase structure, how much debt should we take out?
Sample Answer

Summer Intern Interview

Anonymous interview candidate in Toronto
Interviewed: January 2016
Date Submitted: Jul 18, 2016
Outcome
Declined Offer
Interview Source
College / University / On Campus Recruiting
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
Group Interview
Interview
Applied through career posting, and was emailed by HR to book an appointment for Interview. First interview was in person with 2 analysts.
Interview Questions
• What happens if terminal year FCF are negative? If so, how does this effect your enterprise value calculation?
• If you were the President of Mongolia, and you had to make a decision between strengthening trade with China or Russia, and you could only pick one which country would you choose?
• What are the differences between paying for a building with cash and paying for it with debt? How do these changes affect the financial statements of the company in the future?
• Graph of d/e vs wacc

, • What happens if terminal year FCF are negative? If so, how does this effect your enterprise value calculation?
• If you were the President of Mongolia, and you had to make a decision between strengthening trade with China or Russia, and you could only pick one which country would you choose?
• What are the differences between paying for a building with cash and paying for it with debt? How do these changes affect the financial statements of the company in the future?
• Graph of d/e vs wacc
Sample Answer

Analyst Interview - Generalist

Anonymous interview candidate in Toronto
Interviewed: 2015
Date Submitted: Oct 17, 2015
Outcome
No Offer
Interview Source
College / University / On Campus Recruiting
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
Interview
45 minute interview with CFO and Director, started with info about the company, then technical and behavioural questions
Interview Questions
Given treasury bond rates, and mortgage rates for different sums, how would you invest a given sum of money if you wanted to purchase a house for a given sum?
Sample Answer

Associate Interview - Financial Institutions Group (FIG)

Anonymous employee in New York
Interviewed: February 2014
Date Submitted: Feb 27, 2014
Outcome
Accepted Offer
Interview Source
Recruiter
Length of Process
Less than 1 month
Application
1 on 1 Interview
Skills Test
Personality Test
Interview
Standard PE shop through a recruiter. First round was meeting with 2 associates, mostly technical questions. Second round was meeting with 3 people, mix between partner and principal, mostly fit, some abstract technical.
Interview Questions
Paper LBO.

If you could run a private equity firm, what investment philosophy would you have to ensure high returns?
What are the ways in which a private equity firm generates returns from their investments?
Sample Answer