Everyone likes to talk about blockbuster deals that they were stuffed on, however, I bet that there are also some transactions that do not seem so exciting.
As in the title, what was the least interesting deal that you got stuffed on and how did it turn out?
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$90mm divestiture of a shitty business unit from a long-term strategic client that took forever. Work far beyond what should be expected for a deal of that size because we were trying to stay relevant and impressive so someday we could eventually sell the parent.
Lmao, you could be my associate on that same deal :’) (probably not though, but certainly had a very similar experience... failed process sadly)
whenever the words "passion project" comes out of my MD mouth, I know I'm in for a ride.
What does "passion project" even mean? Just talked to an analyst in the group I'm getting placed into and it seems like he spends 10-12 hours a week on his MD's "passion project" on top of his regular workload... and sounded like he hated his life lol
A Passion Project to a normal person is exactly what it sounds like, something a person enjoys and wants to spend time doing.
A Passion Project to an MD is a project that won't generate that much in fees and will just end up wasting analyst time.
Many people on the street may know it, but a certain well known (for the wrong reasons) plastic products company which has effectively been for sale for years now. Bad company, bad products and a shitshow of a process
Worked at a BB and led a $35mm growth recap (not something we would normally do) for a (as you can imagine) small diagnostics company. The fee was so small, but the D was literally desperate for fees and included some huge potential fee down the road for leading the IPO once they went public as justification to our internal committees as to why we should do the deal. To be fair, the company was growing like crazy, but it was a pretty saturated market and they did not do anything to differentiate. Diligence was impossible - the company was disorganized since they were so small and just a pain in the ass to work with. Turns out our engagement letter did not preclude them from selling the company outright with another advisor, as we were only engaged to lead marketing efforts for a growth recap (I am not sure they actually signed the engagement letter actually, but I didn't care I was a deal hungry analyst). We got a call like 6 months down the road of a terrible process that another bank essentially pitched them to a strategic and they were going to sell outright. They were going to use all of our work setting up diligence materials and the other bank got the fee for the sale. It was only $150mm EV sale, but still a shitty deal that we worked on forever for the promise of some big thing that never ultimately happened, and we got completely cucked.
I'm surprised you didn't have some sort of tail arrangement in the engagement letter that allowed you to claim a portion of your fee when they sold to the strategic using your work. Sounds like your senior bankers / lawyers missed the boat on that one.
Seriously, that's all on the senior bankers for that one. I pulled together engagement letter drafts a bunch in banking and that was always included.
There was, but it was related to post money valuation based on the preferred round we were doing. Since the pref shares were never issued, there was technically no post-round valuation, so we did not get any fee.
Know a good amount of friends at boutiques who have worked on legacy deals for clients who have been with the bank for 5+ years. The bank keeps trying to sell them or raise capital but they are never successful every year so have to try again in every couple months...Imagine being stuck with the same client throughout your anal years even extending to the ass years...
It's telling that basically all the responses here have to do with these clients. It is THE WORST.
I mean the clients and how good they are mostly the reason why deals can take a while. If the client is declining in revenue every quarter, it's going to be hard for even GS to make a good prop to sell them...
This happens all the time. Seeing these MD’s bend over backwards for business is pretty pathetic sometimes. Creating slides or running analyses for companies every month as an outsourced corp dev team, all for the reward of a fee in the mid 5 figures maybe once every 12-18 months. Crazy, but it happens literally all the time.
At a BB worked on a buyside bolt on a $30m for a PE owned asset (relationship deal with the PE fund) as they wanted debt financing for $20m (TLB add-on), and they didn't win the deal...
$50M carve out for a stressed business unit of a large conglomerate. As an analyst traveled twice a week from NY to the midwest with my VP building the CIM and MP for months given the utter incompetence of the management team. Sponsor only process. Shit you not, received two bids for $1. And yes the dollar bids are a real thing
$1 bids seem like the funniest bids - can't imagine seriously writing a legitimate bid letter complimenting the business only to drop that $1 TEV right at the end.
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