Technical Help

Can anyone offer any insight into these questions?

If company A is a steel mill company and company B is a management consultancy firm and both
have revenue of 100 and EBITDA of 10, which company will have a higher EV/EBITDA
multiple?

Company A acquires company B and the acquisition is zero-accretive. Company B brings
in $10,000 of net income. What is the maximum amount company A could have
borrowed to buy company at a rate of 4%?

2 Comments
 
Most Helpful

I'll take a shot at Question A:

Professional services is more cyclical than manufacturing: you don't need your bankers to advise an M&A, but people do need some dough (or cars, who knows). This is on a relative scale. Discount rate wise A and B's should differ by too much.

EV: B likely has a higher EV, but lower EBITDA due to A's heavy depreciation and likely more debt and therefore higher interest expense

So B probably has a higher EV/EBITDA multiple. 

Let's say A is a manufacturing company and B is a professional services company. A is asset-heavy and B is asset-light. The profit margin is likely higher for B. When you calculate FCFF, B has a higher net income to start with. When you add back depreciation, which is a big part of company A, you see a bump in FCF, and then you need to subtract CapEx, which consists of buying new equipment and maintaining current equipment. This is higher for company A, and almost 0 for company B. Then you subtract ONWC, which is likely higher for company A because as a professional services company I just don't see why you need too much NWC (investment banking is also professional services). 

Take this with a grain of salt. I can be completely wrong because I mainly work with healthcare companies, and I pay attention to tech, not business services or industrials.

If you have Bloomberg, just pull comps and check industry average or median. 

I believe the above analysis is correct? 

EBITDA Multiples by Industry | Equidam

Persistency is Key
 

Commodi ut sit aspernatur consequatur alias reiciendis nisi. Tempore sunt modi alias accusantium asperiores non perferendis. Debitis occaecati quisquam dolorum.

Nihil sunt ut delectus placeat similique consequatur fuga. Unde quia sit a qui qui aspernatur reprehenderit omnis. Possimus explicabo quasi quos omnis iure est doloribus. Aut nihil mollitia itaque.

Maiores magnam sint delectus maiores rerum iste assumenda. Fugiat quia cumque quidem deleniti ut est vitae. In veritatis similique qui molestiae. Consequatur autem ipsum assumenda eligendi consequatur est cumque. Ex voluptatibus voluptatem voluptas sunt. Rerum atque omnis sit est modi temporibus.

Hic ut vel harum voluptatem harum. A quo dolorum cumque officia. Libero officiis est ad et.

Get Jiggy With It

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.3%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.3%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan No 97.3%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (50) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (25) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (75) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”