Overwhelmed by VDRs
Hey all -
I'm a recently promoted senior associate at an MM PE shop. Wanted to see if there were any tips for getting through VDRs more efficiently as a senior associate / midlevel that people would be able to share?
I obviously know the basics on how to flip through a VDR and cut through data / tee up a model as an associate, however I'm finding that I might not be as efficient as required to do it while also dealing with the elevated workload that comes from working across more deals at any given time and multiple portfolio companies. Therefore, wondering if any people have tips that they share with associates or employ themselves that I could be incorporating?
In particular what I struggle with is that, while I know how to locate and work through specific files for certain analyses, I feel like my VPs somehow have a pulse on literally every file and manage to find the time to also go through documents like past credit agreements / audits. I'm always puzzled by how they do this with everything else on their plate. Is it as simple as literally opening most / every doc or is there something I'm missing?
Thanks in advance for any help! Hoping that this might be a helpful thread for others even if it doesn't solve my issues, which might just indicate that I'm a slower processor of information than others
Download the document index and skim through all the titles?
They do it because they have you to do grunt work which frees up a lot of time
I typically download the index and have one of my analysts download the entire contents onto our server. I find that the file will open more quickly on my server than the VDR's. I know what my five biggest hot button diligence/data items are and am looking to see if that data is available.
To that point, I DO open each and every file. I am not scrutinizing at this point but looking for WHAT is in the file and if there is anything major that jumps out (i.e. third largest customer is down 30% y/o/y, etc). If something needs to be further analyzed I'll tag it for my associate to look more deeply or do so myself if it's a hot button item.
I do read the audits in the entirety. Always a lot to learn here so I take my time with these. I do not read the docs in entirety. After you read and negotiate a bunch of credit agreements where to look will become second nature.
Once I have my arms around what is in the DR and have followed up with the banker/company on availability of data, I will generally dive deeper and crate a more comprehensive list of questions.
Hope this helps. Like with anything, you will get more efficient with time.
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