Bush-league Question - Writing a CIM for an interview

Hey Guys,

I have an interview with a west coast boutique and an alum from my school gave me a heads up that part of the interview may require drafting the summary of a CIM based on some information provided. Given that I am applying as a first year analyst, I haven't had much exposure to this sort of thing. I was told it should be about 1-2 pages, I will have an hour or two, and I will need an investment thesis.

I guess my question is what sort of information do I need to provide, and how should this thing be formated?
Content wise I assume I need the following:
- overview of the company
- financial metrics
- recent performance
- management summary
- industry / company growth

Should I specify that the sale should be to financial sponsor versus strategic acquirer? Do I need to show projected cash flows (assuming they give me that level of info) and do I need to explain assumptions? What other areas may I need to cover?

In terms of formatting, do I need graphics / charts? Do people tend to break each area out into sub-headers? Should I be using bullets / lists (for example, in the "financial metrics" section listing what I believe to be relevant information)? Any other suggestions?

Keep in mind this is supposed to be a summary, and only one to two pages...

Thanks for the help.

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