What is it like being an M&A Co-Advisor?

M&A co-advisor is generally more relaxed than co-bookrunners from a capital markets perspective (IPO, ECM, LevFin, etc.) where all firms involved are going to be dialing for dollars to secure enough money for the client. M&A co-advisors are often a way of spreading the fees across multiple banks who have provided advice or helped the company over the years. Having a co-advisor is also often a cheap way of “tying up” a bank so that they can’t use their knowledge to represent buyers on the other side, which could give buyers the advantage if the bank is already really smart on the business. Generally a co-advisory mandate means that the MDs will still be working hard, but the analysts and associates will not work so hard. It’s a very different beast which is less deliverable oriented and more strategically oriented.