Hey everyone,
I wanted your quick input on what fees one should expect an IB to be paid for sell-side services to a private company that will be sold for circa USD 500 million (=Equity Value, Debt = 0) through a targeted auction. I guess that would be categorized as a "middle-market" transaction. Should I expect something in the area of 1%, i.e. USD 5 million to be paid upon completion?
Thanks,
George
| +222 | UBS Accused of Favoring H-1B Workers While Cutting U.S.-Born Employees | 54 | 6h |
| +123 | ONLY THESE BANKS OR YOU STRUCK OUT | 34 | 10h |
| +111 | IB Energy Drink Tier List / Ranking | 73 | 10h |
| +91 | PJT M&A Group Selection 2026 | 14 | 1d |
| +59 | Firm Thinks I'm Lying About Offer | 18 | 1d |
| +51 | Feedback for internship first desk at IBD BB - personal fit, "don't be too confident" | 29 | 1d |
| +38 | Indiana University Fraternity Pipelines | 19 | 4h |
| +33 | Stay at Weak Dealflow Team or Lateral? | 10 | 14h |
| +30 | Does BofA still pay its associates rat pellets? | 15 | 1d |
| +30 | Rogo AI | 11 | 1h |
Career Resources
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
Ballpark right. Would say 0.5%-1.25% depending on factors like deal certainty, intensity (how much support do they need in preparing sale), sell-side advisor with global reach/local player, etc
Basically if Seller decides not to sell for whatever reason, what does the IB get paid for its efforts? Do they get paid some fixed sum no matter what?
you'll only keep your retainer - that's the risk of sell-side M&A.
My firm would prob charge a retainer of 100k-200k plus travel expenses netted against a fee of 1-1.5% EV at close.
isn't sell-side less risky than buy-side where you're essentially one of a handful of banks competing for the same asset? conversely, with sell-side, you're the one bank helping sell the asset to a handful of competing parties?
if this is the case, i'd rather work for a firm that has 100 sell-sides than 200 buy-sides.
Sell-side is less risky from the perspective that you aren't putting any financial capital at risk just time, and if the asset doesn't sell then you obviously don't get paid your fee and you put in all that time and work for essentially nothing. However, on the buy-side their is financial risk in the event that the investment of buying the asset does not pay off.
as the buy-side M&A advisor, you’re not really financially invested in the transaction outside of the transaction itself. sorry if I didn’t make that distinction clear.
Ah, buy-side advisor. Was definitely thinking the buyer itself
In additon: sell-sides are much more time-consuming for bankers.
Necessitatibus asperiores hic ut commodi. Voluptatem voluptatem non culpa dicta doloribus. Omnis veritatis rerum ipsum est ducimus eligendi nisi. Aliquid qui maiores ex velit qui tempore rerum. Fugiat in sunt dolores blanditiis voluptas labore.
Voluptas fuga eius aliquid placeat fuga nesciunt. Quo culpa assumenda expedita optio consequatur porro. Asperiores deserunt quo rerum repudiandae provident.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...