Entry level corporate development

What do you guys think about starting a career in corporate development (in-house M&A) right out of college. Btw I do not have a good chance of making it in Ibanking.

Just wondering what the general salary and career path/exit opps would be like

4 Comments
 

If you can actually land a role like this straight out of school, it's a great path. But as other posters already said, this would be pretty rare. A less common but still decent way into CD is Big 4 Transaction services. Few people are able to exit directly into CD, but a couple years of TS, mixed with FP&A at a company and you could probably network your way into CD at same company at the manager level with a pretty sweet paycheck. You'll be in the same place as former IBankers and won't have had to deal with that lifestyle.

 

For reference I'm at a Junior level in a CD role and we close easily 5+ deals a year. That goes to upwards of 10+ if you consider partnerships / joint ventures.

Many of these can be almost negligible (under a few million NPV) and come from a "optics" or macro strategy perspective. Others (fewer, perhaps 2 or 3) could be north of $50-100mm deals.

You also have the odd massive partnership that could come in at some ridiculous numbers if it's with an insanely fast-growing company.

 

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