Hi all!
I am starting an internship at a small M&A advisory firm (1-10 mil€ deals, approx. 10 deals per year, 4 employees).
I would like to have some information and insights about that kind of firm (life, experience, salaries, exit opportunities, work-life balance, culture, and how it differs from other players).
Thanks!
NB: I have seen other topics on WSO about small M&A firms but none is really extensive.
For reference, I was a 2020 SA and now FT a relatively small M&A shop not in NYC: ~15 - 20 FTE's (5 senior bankers, 2 associates, 2 analysts, 3-4 SA's during the summer, rest support). Most of our deals fall into the $25 - $100 MM as we have minimum fees in place so we won't compete for any deals less than ~$10 MM.
An important note: Your experience is likely to be highly variable based upon the firm/MD's you work for. I can only speak to my experience.
- Experience: All depends on deal flow. When you are working on live deals you will absorb significantly more responsibility and be involved in most if not all aspects of the deal thus getting significant exposure/experience. You will also get significant exposure to how a process is managed at the senior level (not just the analyst grunt work). However, if deal flow is slow you will find yourself doing more prospecting/sales/marketing work, and less analysis/financial work.
Work-life balance: Again, this is heavily dependant on which firm you work at and how much deal flow there is. A typical week for me is 60 hrs (8am - 8pm) most weekends spent studying for FINRA exams. When there is significant deal flow you will be much busier. Ex. In August my banker landed three engagements in three weeks, I did not see a day off (including weekends) until mid-late September.
Salaries: Significantly below street. As it was explained to me small M&A shop's only source of revenue is from fees. BB banks have other sources of capital (Corporate & commercial banking, retail, DCM/ECM, S&T, etc.) so their analysts are more a fixed cost. Smaller firm's analysts are more of a variable cost, meaning your base should be lower but when deals are being closed you are likely to see more of the upside in comparison to a BB analyst. Again this may vary from firm to firm based on the view of your MD/firm.
Exit opportunities: Hate to say this again, but this will vary from firm to firm. My firm has a decent reputation for the niche we service so our analysts place well with MM PE and/or EB or BB associate roles.
Culture/How it differs from other players: Don't waste as much time doing stupid shit. Since we are staffed lean I rarely find myself doing work that isn't "revenue-producing". Meaning the MDs never have us build complex models that take all night and deliver no value. As I mentioned before, the work will likely feel more like a sales role than a finance role since 1. We are not invited to pitch on deals, most deals are sourced from prospecting/phone calls, and 2. there is only so much meaningful financial analysis you can do for companies of that size.
Hope that was helpful, happy to answer other questions if you have any.