Low M&A flow

Hello,

I am prepping for an IB analyst interview at a lower MM firm (FT), and as I was going through their website I realized that their M&A activity is extremely low. They are a reputable bank, nothing special, but I expected a lot more. They do have a lot of transactions (30-40 per year in my sector), especially in the IPO and secondary offering fields, but M&A itself is in the 2-3/year range. So far I have been concentrated on M&A and thought this was the cream of the crop, so it's a bit disheartening. Does this look bad as far as having deal experience and using it to exit in the future, or do other "deals" in IPOs/secondary offerings give you good deal exposure as well?

Thanks for the help.

4 Comments
 

I don't think they rank that high. I just looked at their 2019 deals in the field and out of 20+ transactions 15 are secondary offerings. They probably work on some deals that get killed and don't advertise but I'm worried about not getting enough M&A exposure. Is working on ECM much different from M&A?

 

At my bank, it is night and day in terms of hours, but the exit opps reflect that. In my experience, M&A analysts have a better shot at the top PE shops, broadly speaking.

Array
 
Most Helpful

Eius aut quis fuga iusto. Aut unde consequatur quo. Quis ea voluptatibus asperiores recusandae. Quo cum aut nihil dolor assumenda.

Corrupti ipsum expedita veritatis vero cumque dolores aliquid vitae. Qui laborum repellat delectus delectus molestiae. Ratione qui dolore doloribus aut praesentium odit.

Ut cupiditate ea nihil. Illum quod sed natus sed. Ea quis enim facilis eum praesentium quo iste. Numquam impedit expedita quaerat quae. Ut veritatis sit deserunt at pariatur.

Career Advancement Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.9%
  • Evercore 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.3%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.7%
  • JPMorgan No 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

July 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (15) $434
  • Associates (45) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (79) $150
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
8
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
9
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
10
Linda Abraham's picture
Linda Abraham
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”