Importance of Deal Experience?

Currently a second year IB analyst and interested in exiting over the next year or so.

Issue is that I have no deals closed (and currently am on not staffed on any live deals). I was on an IPO which got pulled at a fairly late stage sometime ago now, but apart from that not much else.

Will this be a serious red flag once I start reaching the 2 year mark without any deals under my belt?

Edit: I am in London if this would affect things.

2 Comments
 
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It helps, but it's not uncommon to leave IB with zero closed deals. Sometimes even top bucket analysts get screwed with some monster project that takes all of their time and then dies.

Bigger issue is lack of live deal/M&A work. IPO work is interesting but not a common use of time in PE so will be less relevant. Have you been on any serious M&A deals? If not, may be worth expressing an interest in taking on a bigger role in M&A to your staffer. You can't control what deals close, but you should at least try to have relevant work to talk about even if you're not able to name names.

 

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