Moving to M&A as a VP/Director

Currently in a coverage group in a relatively niche industry. Wondering if long term it makes more sense to move to M&A vs. stay in coverage.

I really like the industry, work in coverage etc. and have done very well so far (i.e., top bucket every review cycle, early promotions, etc.,)

Wondering long term however if I'd be more successful in M&A as opposed to coverage. If I'm being honest with myself, I'm much more at ease talking to client about their positioning, peers, taking them through a model/valuation, transaction structures, etc., vs. going out to dinner with them and discussing which NYC private school is best for their kids. Would much rather focus on execution vs. trying to bring in business.

If I moved to M&A, I would still focus on the same sector. Main concern is that there are just so few people in M&A who are able to have successful senior careers relative to coverage, and the personality types I see in coverage in my specific area aren't too different from mine. 

4 Comments
 

My view is it depends on what the long term game plan is. Have done a bit of both, and it def helps to round me out as a banker, being smart on a sector AND being able to at least semi intelligently talk M&A tactics/strategy, execution and the sort with clients.

However, banking isn't my endgame. The sector expertise is more valuable to me as the skillset / knowledge is more transferable to a broader range of roles than M&A execution.

 

M&A is almost entirely run out of our coverage group (usually each transaction will have one senior person in M&A staffed on it), but they'll only provide high level comments/talk with clients occasionally, so not exactly learning a new skillset. Just going from 30% M&A to 100% M&A

 

Sort of the same structure for my group. I switched to 100% M&A for a bit and became too execution focused. It's fun but granted my endgame isn't banking, I wanted to bring back some elements of coverage. Am a happy almost 50/50 now.

I'll let career M&A guys chime in here, but my view is long term, bankers with solid footings in their sectors (clients relationships, pulse on the sector) prevail.

 
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