If you're in Energy, that's complicated. Otherwise, your credentials should be fine, assuming you went to a reputable college.

 

M&A is not a "modelling group" they just run execution on M&A deals. There are other types of transactions that you will most likely see in coverage, and I cant imagine you wouldnt get any modelling experience. Although Im coming from the Lev Fin perspective which has its own modelling in many cases except for very large LBOs run out of FSG.

 

At my BB, ECM generally does not do M&A modeling, but that may be different at other places.

Let's take the example you described, which would generally occur in a M&A transaction where shares are issued from buyer to seller. Examples of team responsibilities below:

  • Industry coverage team would be putting together materials on the space, competitors, etc. A good example of this would be in putting together a CIM for a sell-side engagement. In a buy-side, they may engage with the client and put together materials on why a transaction would make sense to pursue. Often this group may do a lot of the preliminary modeling and will provide input on the model as the transaction picks up and M&A takes over. Sometimes, that may not happen at all and it may turn into a collaborative type of effort between the 2 groups. Throughout this, the team is in contact with the client to get data to build the model. From a senior banker perspective, coverage teams typically have the connections with client

  • M&A comes in a little later, perhaps after the transaction has begun. Contrary to belief on WSO, this group does not only model. They also help coordinate a lot of processes that have to take place in a M&A scenario. Those processes include setting out timelines for key deliverables, such as NDAs, IOIs, LOIs, SPAs, etc. Further, they coordinate with attorneys to make sure everything is airtight. From a senior banker perspective, M&A helps in negotiation, especially when processes get down to 2-3 potential buyers and things such as share exchange ratios, posturing to public shareholders, etc. have to be finalized

  • As mentioned above, we are assuming this is a transaction where the buyer issues shares to the seller, so the bank is probably representing the buyer in this case. An ECM team would take care of a lot of the processes relating to issuing new shares. There are a lot of SEC filings, such as an S-3, that have to be properly crafted so that the buyer would be able to issue shares to the seller. Further, if the buyer is only looking to sell shares to raise cash, and subsequently hand the cash to the seller, ECM would help organize the road show necessary to sell the additional shares necessary to do the transaction. Outside of this M&A scenario, ECM often does IPO models (although coverage does them ~50% of the time as well), helps draft S-1s and related documents, coordinates attorneys instrumental to the offering, organizes roadshows, and speaks to potential buyers of the shares (pension funds, AMs, etc.)

Know that this is a fairly abbreviated post, but there is so much more that goes into all of these roles. Honestly, the most important thing to keep in mind is that you will never have 100% clarity before you hit the desk, and that's okay. Regarding groups, make the decision you feel most comfortable with pursuing. If you do want to pursue PE, I would strongly suggest looking into the coverage groups (sponsors is usually considered coverage, but does as much modeling as M&A at most places) that are well regarded at each BB, and M&A. Lev Fin can be a hit or miss as some model (BAML) but others do not (Barclays).

Others should feel free to add to this as it is in no way comprehensive.

 

Really helpful. Reading this forum makes it seem like M&A does all the techincal work while coverage simply works on slides and pitches. Understand M&A might be more techincal naturally, but seems like if you work in a coverage group you really like, you will get exposure to the techincal side as well as learning more about the industry you are interested in.

 

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