How many deals does the average analyst complete?
I can’t tell if I have completed enough deals / received a lot of exposure relative to my peers.
How many M&A deals should I expect to have completed after each year as an analyst.
It would be helpful if you gave different responses for Analyst 1, Analyst 2 and Analyst 3
Based on the most helpful WSO content, the number of deals an analyst completes can vary greatly depending on the bank, the market activity, and the analyst's specific role. However, it's not uncommon for analysts to not close a deal until 6-8 months into their role, as mentioned in the context.
For an Analyst 1, it's normal to feel like you're just trying to stay afloat and not make mistakes. You might not feel like you're contributing significantly to deals until later in the year.
As an Analyst 2, you might find yourself busier due to a shortage of analysts or high market activity. This could lead to a higher deal flow and more experience, but also less time to fully understand each deal.
By the time you're an Analyst 3, you might have experienced a range of deal sizes. One of the posts in the context suggests that deals in the $700M-$1.5B range can be the most enjoyable to work on.
Remember, it's not just about the number of deals, but also about the quality of your experience and what you learn from each deal. It's also important to note that deal size doesn't necessarily correlate with a better analyst experience.
Sources: How Committed Are You to On-Cycle Recruiting?, Factset League Tables YTD-September, How many deals do you underwrite / do a year?, Average Number of Deals Per Year
Bump
Around 3 deals across 2 years
Fully depends on a number of factors including bank, industry group, and year (today is likely less than 2 years ago for example).
I did 6 but that was during a very strong market. I also would say frankly deals done shouldn’t really be the target you’re aiming for as an analyst, it should be experience from those deals. You could have done 0 but if one deal you were on never closed but you did everything and learned a ton, that’s a lot better than doing 10 announced deals where you could barely keep track of all the moving pieces.
Thanks for that - I definitely agree that learning is more important than completing a ton of deals. Was that six over the whole analyst stint?
Correct, was over my analyst stint. Frankly anything over two is overkill, as once you did one it’s all the same. And when it comes to any resume impact really you’re only going to list one or two because who the heck wants to remember every minute detail on deal #5.
I did 11 deals over two years. Very hot M&A market, though.
Must have been some crazy hours
It SUCKED.
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