Hey everyone,
I was wondering how the Exclusive Sales M&A group functions within M&A and how it interacts with other coverage teams. Also, does working within this group have a significantly detrimental impact on exit opportunities in comparison to coverage, where you might have worked on a wider variety of deals.
| +267 | Why UBS Is the Worst Place to Start Your IB Career | 40 | 2d |
| +219 | UBS 2nd Year Analyst Q&A (2026) | 41 | 1d |
| +102 | What's your craziest "hardo" story? | 18 | 2h |
| +72 | UBS IB 26Q2 a Disaster! Advisory Revenue Down 23%, Capital MarketsDown 5% | 11 | 1h |
| +53 | Wolf of Wall Street vs. Reality: Anyone else feel scammed by the movies? | 19 | 16h |
| +50 | Suspended for a Year | 21 | 20h |
| +49 | Elite Boutique interview questions | 17 | 2d |
| +37 | so confused about 28 SA timeline | 30 | 11h |
| +34 | Lincoln International Return Offers | 8 | 29m |
| +33 | Rate my non-target resume | 19 | 5h |
Career Resources
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
Sell side is the main focus of any bank. Just look up any other thread here.
We gotta show these college kids how to use the search bar.
Edit: Kid asked what are exit ops of Sell-side M&A groups
https://lmgtfy.com/?q=Let+me+google+that+for+you
Since when can a coverage team not run a sell-side?
Before everyone starts shitting on the OP - I may be wrong here, but I believe the OP is referring to the sell-side M&A teams at BBs. This might be confusing to those who aren't familiar with how M&A teams are structured at a lot of the BBs. Again, if I'm understanding the OP correctly here, he is not talking about coverage teams. He is talking about the sell-side M&A team within the M&A product group.
Some BBs call this group within the M&A group Exclusive Sales M&A, while others just call it Sell-side M&A. From my knowledge/experience working in the M&A group, these teams focus exclusively on sell-side mandates for Private Equity firms. I know it is really confusing, but it is basically an M&A team that not only focuses solely on PE firms, but also on sell-sides only. Buy-side advisory for sponsors has more to do with financing, so the financial sponsors team covers that with the help of the regular M&A team.
Sell-side M&A / Exclusive Sales M&A as you can imagine is an extremely niche group that is a very small team within M&A. BB M&A groups probably have around 3-4 MDs in this group, and they don't have a separate junior team for this. They just use the regular M&A team for analysts and associates and get the help from coverage groups for making powerpoint decks (pitches, CIMs, etc). Coverage MDs also tag along accordingly to the sector the deal is in.
A lot of you may be thinking that this is super confusing and may even think that having this separate group within the M&A team is unnecessary or useless. However, this is actually a super lucrative business for advisory fees. As a M&A MD, the number one thing you care about so that you get paid well is the deal flow. Well, focusing on sponsors sell-side M&A will give you not only a significant amount of deal flow, but a consistent deal flow. Every single year, often times several times a year, the same client will be looking to exit its investments. Now you can see how this is a dream for MDs. On top of that, you don't really have to be networking all the time for new businesses because the same set of clients can give you deals every year. The icing on the cake is that most PE firms are located in NYC, so from what I've seen, the MDs in sell-side/exclusive M&A travel out of the city much less frequently than other MDs. Also just a fun fact about these teams - I believe Lehman Brothers started it in early-mid 2000s during the PE boom, and the bankers from Lehman spread out to different BBs to start the group within the M&A team.
OP - Hope this is what you were looking for. If it wasn't, then I at least hope this is helpful for those who thought you asked a stupid question.
That's exactly what I was referring to, thanks a lot. In hindsight I was perhaps not clear enough before which led to the confusion, and consequently getting roasted.
Glad I could help. I would recommend that you edit your post/title again to make it more clear instead of deleting it. It was a very legit question even if it was confusing, and I think it could be helpful in the future for anyone looking to learn more about the M&A group
the only bank i've heard of that has a team called exclusive sales M&A is barclays and those guys pretty much just do bitch work
Eveniet architecto vel beatae velit molestias temporibus. Rerum et quia nulla eius eum aut dicta. Ea eius porro aut fugit modi dolores quia. Adipisci consectetur nemo soluta nihil accusantium rem. Et suscipit molestiae quis dolorum commodi maxime aliquid. Non quia aut ipsam esse perferendis asperiores.
Libero porro dolor vel voluptates vitae assumenda rerum. Sed maiores quo provident qui quisquam perspiciatis. Perspiciatis corporis enim qui consectetur. Aliquid aut non a eius dolorem totam.
Aut non facere est eveniet cupiditate. Delectus deserunt dolore illo dolorem doloremque dignissimos delectus pariatur. Doloremque voluptatem nulla omnis nisi et. Natus consequatur ut saepe alias et illum.
Sunt maiores ipsa nemo dolore ullam quia. Culpa cupiditate voluptatem ut optio nihil sint. Molestiae velit laboriosam enim hic enim. Iure alias quia non sequi quia quia delectus aspernatur. Fuga itaque vitae commodi.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...