Q&A: VP healthcare IB tier 2 bank, London
Hello everyone, I am a junior VP in the healthcare team of a tier 2 bank. We do M&A, ECM, levfin work for healthcare companies (pharma, medtech and services). I've been staffer, fast tracked. I love my job at every level. Coming from a non target school, I've been in a similar position than you. Happy to answer any questions. Best
First question, if you have a NYC office, are they hiring??
Secondly, how granular do you get in your modeling for pharma companies? Do you have probability of success rates for each phase for a drug?
If you could expand on some relevant multiples specifically for pharma that would be great.
How did you get into the healthcare sector? My university degree is relevant for healthcare/biotech, and I am actively trying to find boutiques to lateral into (not in the banking space currently).
What is your view on the innovation in the UK/EU regarding healthcare/pharma compared to the US?
It doesn't sound like you're looking to the buyside at all, why not? Would you ever move into industry?
Cheers!
Hi, can’t say for the NYC office
Pharma modelling: it depends what type of Pharma companies we are looking at. If it is more spec Pharma / generics (i.e. selling the drugs), then it is more price / volume dynamics with some market shares calculations. If you look more at biotech businesses or Pharma companies that develops products, then you would look at more complex models, with factors such as: - defining the patient population (prevalence, incidence, 1st Line, etc.) - the pricing - the lifecycle (patent expiring) - probability adjust each phases (you have some stats per drugs per TAs) - OPEXs also adjusted and modelled separately. Overall, nothing too complicated, but you need to think about it.
In terms of Pharma valuation: -EV / Revenue -EV / EBITDA -P/E
If you look at some biotech, you can start doing some funky things like EV / Peak sales but at the end of the day, the DCF is the preferred methodology.
I got in healthcare because they offered me a job. I also wanted to work in a really dynamic sector (TMT, healthcare). Look at some specialised boutiques (e.g.: Centerview, Leerink, Cowen & Co), they may like a more scientific profile
I thought about moving to the buy side a lot but i am more a hunter than a farmer. Bankers gets a lot of pressure when they move up but so do buy-side people. I also quite enjoy working on a lot of situations and certainly not for 5 years...
I think I was extremly resilient.
After my master in finance, I did a first internship in m&a in a tiny boutique. To get this role, I had applied to 150+ internships (those are quite common in France): m&a, ECM, DCM, top boutiques and small boutiques. I interviewed in 6 places, was rubbish at 5 and got one job.
Once I was in, it was much easier: i joined a boutique a bit bigger and a 3rd one a bit bigger again by applying to 10 roles each.
Basically I was an intern for a year and half when I started my actual job, which is quite normal in france.
Basically, to get in from non target: -apply a lot, to everything -don t mess up your interviews (you won't have many shots) -substitute your lack of shiny names with some experiences