Elite Boutiques asking super difficult technicals

I've heard that some elite boutiques (Lazard, Moelis) ask more difficult technicals than others during interviews. Perhaps not coincidentally, these firms are also known sweatshops.

What questions would these guys be asking potential summer analysts and full time analysts, beyond the standard Accounting, Relative Valuation, and DCF?

Is it possible to get merger models and LBOs in summer analyst interviews?

5 Comments
 
Best Response

Yes, so do BBs. Nothing crazy usually... it isn't any harder to learn most of it than it is to learn about basic accounting and valuation.

What are attributes that make a company a good LBO target? Can you explain what an LBO transaction is? Basic IRR mental math. Can you walk me through an lbo model at a high level.

It's possible to get tougher questions about the model itself, but wouldn't say it's necessarily typical.

 

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