How many live deals are analysts typically staffed on?
How many live deals, particularly buy-side and sell-side M&A, are analysts at BB/EBs typically staffed on at once?
I know that analysts at MM/LMM IB firms could be working on many deals at once, but was wondering what the case would be for BB/EB analysts that work on larger and more complex M&A deals, which could take much more time and capacity, epically if they involve public companies.
Is it possible to be staffed on, say, 3+ live M&A deals (2 sell-sides and 1 buy-side for example) at the same time? Assuming it's a group with strong deal-flow.
You are correct - it depends on the deal. There are deals where you can take up to 3 transactions at once and would be fine (private MM bilateral M&A deals with friendly founders that are running a family biz would be the perfect scenario).
But if you have a multi-billion dollar public M&A that is either using broad/targeted auction process + cross border considerations, then you have a lot on your plate so maybe even just 1 or max 2. Those you need a lot of discussion materials + prep materials + helping on legal stuff with lawyers + DD + project management.
Currently on 5 pitches and 5 live deals as an An1. I believe that 2-3 of those pitches have a high chance of converting as well.
Also, deal size is on average ~$3 Bn with some going above $5 Bn and some at ~$1 Bn.
My hours are absolute trash and 9AM - 5AM is a bit more frequent than I would like (at least 2x a week) but the average is 9AM - 2AM with 4 hours on Saturday and normal working hours on Sunday.
My group is one of the top in the space but it comes at a cost. Definitely not doing this long term
If that’s true that’s terrible, seems illegal
Unfortunately it is true ….
I am not saying any of this to brag either. It is genuinely terrible working this much. I would steer clear working at “top groups” or high deal flow groups to get “reps”
Outside of 2-3 deals on the resume you literally get 0 recognition for anything you’ve done. When recruiting for IB I can not advise stronger to go somewhere chill. The person on only 2 deals has the same resume as the 10 deal analyst when exiting. Also interviewing wise, the person getting worked every night is going to be tired in the interview while the more chill analyst is going to have time to prep and chill before recruiting out of IB.
I am a top bucket analyst and I am not even the most worked. We have some analysts on ~15 projects split amongst live deals and pitches. I am thinking about trying to push back and go middle bucket for year 2 so I don’t die. We have had analysts have to go to the hospital on multiple occasions because of hours. Steer clear of “top groups”, oftentimes they are understaffed and overworked
No way anyone can be staffed on ~15 deals/pitches at the same time. Maybe if 10-12 of them are BS that you tell the staffer are ‘live’ but have no work to do. I don’t know how the work gets divided up at a BB, so might be possible (given large deal teams w/ coverage + industry) if you’re like Levfin and just giving perspectives on credit ratings for 15 deals/pitches, or on coverage team but don’t touch the model (since m&a does that) so you just have a few pages to make once in a while?
I’m at an EB and on 3 live deals and is literally physically impossible for me to be staffed on more than that because every ask is ASAP. Not sure how it’s possible to have 15 ASAP situations going at once lol
That’s brutal man, sorry to hear. Def go mid bucket
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