Current Work Experience
I'm halfway through a corporate finance rotational program at a top five insurance company in the Midwest. First rotation was in FP&A, second rotation is in reporting (BRUTAL), and third rotation will be accounting.
Also passed level 1 of the CFA in June 2017.
College
I graduated cum Laude with a 3.71 GPA from an average public state university. While in college I was a student analyst for the schools equity and fixed income funds. I also had a 7 month internship at a public finance investment bank... I didn't do any actual banking, was only responsible for putting together continuing disclosure reports.
I was also treasurer for 1 year and fundraising chair for 2 years of a nonprofit that works with underprivliged children.
Current Situation
My company has a small corp dev team and I'm getting coffee with the director next week. I told him I was interested in corp dev after the program ends and he seems receptive.
What else do I need to work on to be competitive at the associate level in corp dev?
Yes. research and understand 2-3 high level themes impacting your firm/industry, read about recent deals the team has closed, and understand the basic corporate finance principles. otherwise, just be humble, confident, ask intelligent questions, and show appreciation for their time. your excel skills should be fine if you did fp&a. dont try to overimpress.
If the director is having coffee with you after you expressed interest in corp dev, you already have a definite answer: yes.
Just make sure to highlight your experience. Sure, you're lacking traditional M&A experience, but corp dev frequently interacts with FP&A, treasury, etc. during DD processes, so highlight how that would complement any M&A skills learned should you take the corp dev role. I would also (highly) suggest taking a modeling class of some type (I prefer BIWS, but WSO does offer a discount for WSP). It is obviously a great way to learn, but having taken a paid modeling class shows the director that you are seriously interested in corp dev and committed to learning.
Good luck.
Right, I'm pretty confident in my Excel abilities and general business and industry knowledge. However, I do believe my valuation modeling could use some work. What type of valuation do you recommend I focus on? DCF, Accretion/dilution, and LBO?
All of those. Corp dev might not do LBOs, but they will still model them because it gives us insight into what a PEG might bid against us.
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