Acquisition case interview?

what are the metrics?

If you tell us what the results of the model are then we can help

No idea the nature/character of the shop you are interviewing with, but generally modeling cases are given that are 'positive' in view. I mean, unless your a quarterback, why pay someone to pass? (old joke).

But in these 'COVID' days, maybe someone would give one that should recommended against. Still, I'd look over carefully be deciding that is the way to go.

At the end of the day, the options here are either you messed up the calcs, or that they want you to clearly articulate why it doesn’t work.

I would recommend (as others have) that you review your model, but the most important thing is to be extremely thorough in your response. I would clearly communicate the strengths and weakness of the deal, what would have to change to make it worth it (moving cap, decreasing interest rate, etc.), etc.

if you handled me a model that was wrong, but was formatted right, and had drawn the correct conclusions based on your results, I won’t automatically throw you out (unless you mistake(s) was(we’re) very basic and made me question if you either didn’t put effort in or just don’t have the baseline knowledge). you won’t get a leg up on the kid who did everything right (numbers, formatting, write-up), but if I had you a kid and an okay model (right numbers, average formatting, average write-up), I would still give you a look to think if you were a better cultural fit and I could just train you better.

Kind of unusual, typically firms give cases that should result in a good investment and they want to see that you can explain why it is a good investment. I guess I could see it given the current environment.

If you want to pass your model or the outputs along I (and I'm sure many others) are happy to give input.

depends on how bad the returns are. If you can tweak some expenses or adjust timeline and it starts making sense then chances are your assumptions are off.

My first approach PRIOR to recommending that they pass on the deal would be recommending mitigating strategies that make the deal doable. Sometimes there are deal breakers you can't fix, but if it's a risk with the deal, find a mitigating tactic. If it's a return, recommend pricing be adjusted by X to meet X.XX% IRR. Then if those can't be acheived, then pass. Shows more thought than just "Pass for these x reasons"