Moving from M&A to Capital Markets (ECM/DCM)
On an internship with a bank in M&A, and I hate it. I find the focus on modelling so boring. I would like to move to Capital Markets on the basis that its more varied. In the sense that:
- you're trying to win over investors
- you price equity/debt (yes coverage does most of the valuation, but CM guys still have to understand whats going on)
- theres client interaction (theres nothing in M&A)
Good sell? if not, how would you sell it. thx
Would love to hear responses. Im in M&A(disregard my username).
I hate it. Hate the intense focus on modeling numbers that are pointless.
I actually had an ECM lateral interview and the jist of my pitch was I hate modeling and want better hours....didnt go well lol
how is it pointless? aren't you guys the most important part since you're executing? (college student here, genuine questions)
I work in ECM. Absolutely don’t say you want better hours. Once you’re in ecm, you can say you hate modeling but I wouldn’t mention it in a interview.
Instead, I’d focus more on your love of the market and the ability to work on more deals for a shorter period of time rather than focusing on one or two keeping you busy for months which makes it feel more fast pace.
Would you mind sharing a “day in the life” of your job? I’m in coverage currently but want a role closer to the markets and am strongly considering Ecm.
Like coverage, everyday is different so it’s hard to share a typical “day in the life.” I also want to mention I don’t find ecm (or banking in general) super interesting, it’s just a job to me that gives me a lot of financial freedom so I’m not going to try and make it sound more exciting than it is.
8-9am: Various internal ecm calls depending on the day. If it’s a full team ecm call, the mds will go around and say what their teams are working on or give status updates of their deals. If it’s just our ecm sector, then the md will share what meetings are coming up and what pages he wants and timelines and whatnot. Also shares how he thought yesterdays meetings went.
9-5pm: different everyday but usually a bunch of calls.
Common calls include (typically have at least 4 a day):
Call with research: The topic varies. If there is a pitch or a client meeting coming up, we get their thoughts on the company/space. If we are mandated on a deal, the calls are more centered around what the company has told us/research and the analysts views on xyz.
Update calls: the frequency of these depend on if you’re an active or passive and where the deal is. If you’re an active and the deal hasn’t launched these are usually once a week and the company is on the line. If the deal has launched and is on the road, typically there is a call every night or every other night and the lead(s) talk about how the book is filling up.
Diligence calls: Don’t usually have to attend.
Client meetings: Could be intro meetings, pitches, or more general market update or follow up meetings. Intro and market meetings are typically off the shelf pages. If it’s a pitch or follow-up meeting there’s probably a few new pages that are put together.
Internal calls: Coverage and ECM mds planning pages or walking through the deck.
Weekly calls/meetings:
-Weekly global bank call
-Coverage weekly call that ecm joins
-coffee with senior members of the ecm team
-global ecm call
After 5pm, usually catch up with my associates and vps to give updates on pages and hear how meetings went. If I’m wfh I try sneak away for an hour or 2 and meet up with friends or eat dinner with my roommates. Makes for a later night but helps break up the day. If I’m in the office I turn comments or twiddle my thumbs until the seniors leave. If I’m feeling really ballsy and a couple of juniors have already left I’ll just leave and finish my comments at home. Doesn’t really matter when I send them back because my seniors won’t reply until the morning.
Generally speaking, it's a pretty unorthodox move given most people want to move into an M&A role so it may raise some eyebrows but no biggie. Given your decision, I'd definitely emphasize your desire to help companies capital rather than doing funny math to justify business combinations or something along those lines. Basically you want a more markets-oriented role which allows you to see more transactions (given cap markets usually does more deals than M&A given the nature of the process) and you want to be involved in the dialogue with investors who are current / potential shareholders of the client. You could also talk about how capital markets may reveal itself to be a more dynamic role given financing options for companies may change as the client needs evolve (ie using non-dilutive financing vs issuing more equity vs accessing private funding etc)
Is Ecm worth it at a smaller MM like Raymond James or Truist? Can it still be a good career?
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