I am about to start an acquisitions role for an industrial firm that looks at Core and Development opportunities. I am coming out of a debt background(all assets types) and have only ever seen equities deals when I was consulting for this guy trying to buy noninstitutional multifamily and retail properties.
How do you successfully pitch an acquisitions deal to an investment committee?
What are the common traps do you see acquisitions analyst fall for?
What are some traits I picked up from the debt side I should drop when looking at deals?
Wanna send me an OM if you're doing a disposition😅?
Just play your role for at least the first few months. I have an analyst that is always telling me we need to buy this or that, and I am like bro slow down. Trust me you will get there once people trust your work, but in the beginning you can't be saying stuff like that and have the model not be right or standard to the firm. There are a million other factors that you wont comprehend at first on whether an acquisition goes through or not at first.
And also be able to back up every single input you put into a model, idc if it is wrong just act like you thought about it. I hate when an analyst literally has a blank face/freaks out when you ask why he picked that exit cap or debt assumption.
2nd paragraph 100% - ALWAYS have something to backup your inputs. Huge.
OP for your original questions:
1. You're an analyst, you won't be pitching yet. Just be there to offer supporting info and observe what your seniors do.
2. Biggest one in my mind is poor management of workload. Make sure you don't forget about stalled deals that aren't actually dead - they can take off at any minute and on the acquisitions side this entails a LOT of work.
3. Probably just the general risk aversion - equity plays generally entail much higher risk and seek to find creative ways to get value out of a deal.
4. Don't worry about sourcing yet. Just focus on being good at your actual job for now, which is modeling, drafting IC memos, and doing research. See #1.
Overall, slow your roll and take the time to learn the ANALYST job from an equity perspective before you start worrying about the next steps of sourcing, pitching, etc.
Take the first six months to really build a strong knowledge base and credibility. A high degree of detail (ensuring work is mistake free), intellectual curiosity (asking as many questions as you can early on and more nuanced than items you can figure out on your own), work ethic (working diligently and managing multiple processes), communication (keeping all of your superiors in the loop -- you should focus on overcommunicating when you start, ask and clear up deadlines, etc.), and having a great attitude (a smile goes a long way). These have worked well in my experience and I enjoy working with juniors who have commensurate qualities/behaviors.
I, personally, have found it frustrating working with juniors who come in vocalizing sub-par, superficial ideas/investment thesis/etc. when I have to turn a model 5x+ with them on simple asks. Keep your ideas and thoughts close to your chest until six+ months in and when you've built trust with those around you. Good luck!
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