Every time I speak with someone from M&A, they say they love it because it’s rewarding. This includes someone who worked as an analyst at Goldman, and another guy who was at JPMorgan for 15 years and is now the head of a small European boutique. What exactly do all of them mean? I tried to ask follow ups but their answers were vague. What makes M&A rewarding?
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They like to assume they created value but in reality most deals are dilutive.
Correction: it’s dilutive to the acquirer but accretive to the seller
To me it’s the fact that it has such a tangible outcome. Often a company will seize to exist, or a company will receive new owners who will change its direction, or an entrepreneur is finally able to realize their winnings, and maybe the competitive landscape changes etc.
It’s fullfilling because you made a visible change (accretive or not, but at least it made an impact), and also the process is a lot of fun and you learn a lot about a specific market and business discussing the case with commercial DD advisors and mgmt etc.
Accretive use of english right there bruv
Professional way of saying it pays well and makes them feel important
The people saying that are asking themselves the same question.
But god damn it I’m addicted to Brazilian steakhouses and this is the only way to finance it
Tangible outcome. You haven’t created anything by advising on an M&A deal at an investment bank but after putting in days and weeks of work on models/process-related stuff, it certainly feels good to see the press release or announcement when the deal is signed. Obviously that can get old but if you’ve developed a relationship with the client or the buyer, it can feel good to deliver a successful outcome which only serves to strengthen that relationship
I've always been passionate about omakase and this is the only way that's possible!
Big dollar amounts = big fees = rewarding
High effort, tight timelines, lots of counterparties, lots of ego and emotions, and a shit ton of simultaneous workstreams converting into a very immediate and tangible outcome that generates a fuck ton of fees.
Do senior M&A bankers have a book of clients? Or does that all fall to the senior coverage bankers?
long term I would love to have a book of business
Ignoring the already mentioned pay elements (comp, fees), the work tends to be more interesting and there is deeper engagement with the Company and process (buyers, etc.) compared to debt deals (from my experience anyway).
I like M&A (and have been doing it for two decades) because at various points on various deals, I get to be:
- the blue sky thinker, helping a client work through the best transaction to penetrate a new market, for example
- the tactician, devising a deal strategy, often using some element of subterfuge or power politics
- the charmer, courting a target for a client
- the thug, when bids come in on an attractive auction and I am beating the shit out of the bidders
- the nerd, when working through some complex accounting or tax structure
- the international businessman (
)I like the variety of roles it allows me to play, often having to alternate between one and the other depending on the deal.
Also I like the intensity of deals and the bonds it creates. Several of my good friends are clients or counterparties or bankers I side a deal with.
Don’t get me wrong - 90% of M&A is tedium, but I’ve reached the level of seniority where I can pass down a decent amount of the tedium and am around for the good parts.
I would add that, especially for a young person, you get to interact with corporate leaders on the regular. For example, I interned in corp dev at Spirit AeroSystems. My weekly meetings were with the head of our Boeing team, the head of the A350 program, etc. These are people where the other interns had there one big meeting at the end of the summer with. And I was the one regularly talking with them and they were the ones giving me input.
M&A work allows you to regularly interact with leaders and not many jobs all you to do that when you are in your 20s
Saying you work in M&A is rewarding
It’s always the guy who is 6 months in, doesnt work in M&A anymore, or is a bigwig MD who love M&A
I mean I heard this exact wording in conversations with two separate people and one worked M&A at JPM for 15 years and is still in M&A somewhere else and the other was at Goldman and Barclays but not very long at each (a couple years).
it's rewarding because you get paid a bonus at the end of the year
Most boring shit in the world. I shouldn’t have listened to the upperclassmen and dipshit analysts I was networking with at the time
The salary.
Next.
To quote Mr. Krabs:
“Hi, I like money”
Is the deal closing not rewarding in and of itself? I find it to be...
I spend a lot of money on coke and hookers, so it’s rewarding in the sense that it allows me to pursue my passions in life
Literally the money. Anyone saying there’s other reasons they deal with this job is lying
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