ECM to M&A - is it wise?
I’m an associate in ECM, been in this team since I started as a graduate so I’ve never touched M&A before. I’ve decided ECM isn’t for me as it’s pretty much just sales, speaking to investors and arranging meeting etc. I haven’t learned any technical skills since being here and want to try make a move into M&A.
I’ve been invited to interview for an M&A associate position at a top EB, the only reason I got invited to interview is because a friend of mine works there and told me they were hiring for an associate and he said he can recommend me. Had he not do this I definitely wouldn’t have got the interview given my background. Part of the job spec is ‘excellent financial modelling, accounting knowledge, knowledge of the m&a transaction process, ability to manage analysts on an m&a transaction’.
Honestly speaking I have no experience in any of the above requirements, I’ve never touched modelling or accounting, I’ve never even touched an m&a deal so I have no idea how I’ll manage analysts when I don’t even know the process myself. I told my friend this and he just said ‘this is your chance to move into m&a, just learn everything yourself and blag it during the interview’.
I’m starting to doubt myself and feel if I get the offer and join then I would just embarrass myself by looking like a 1st year analyst trying to learn everything and they will regret hiring me and fire me. I can just imagine joining and then all their first year analysts having to teach me and guide me in everything while they think ‘why tf did we hire this noob’ which will be really embarrassing.
I would appreciate any advice?
is this decision wise or stupid? Is it too late given I’m an associate?
is it possible for me learn enough using online sources to be ready for an associate m&a role?
Non-sequitor, but is ECM pay the same as M&A pay from An1-MD?
yes similar, after tax any differences between these teams are unnoticeable
Interesting - not the case in my banks or the others I know. I'm seeing approximately 10-15% discount on the bonuses for associates, for instance.
Agreed, when I said similar I was thinking about a 10% difference in bonus. However I still view this as basically the same pay especially after tax and other deductibles it works out to be about only a 4-5% difference which is unnoticeable, especially with the same base salary.
Also worth noting on an hour basis ECM earn more than M&A.
Gotcha. On a per hour basis, pretty sure my doorman earns more than me.
How much do you make all-in as an ECM VP? Also, how many hours do you work per week on avg?
I think ECM is more appealing than M&A (Ik im in the minority here). Really appreciate your insights.
I made a move from ECM to coverage for the same reasons you listed - and personally I'm very happy I did. That being said, I did this at the analyst level (had an offer to go A2A in ECM and turned it down because of the same reasons you listed as well - the idea of me overseeing analysts on things ive never done made my stomach churn). Here's the thing though - only when I landed in coverage did I realize that my fears were relatively unfounded, mainly because the MBA ASOs are far more clueless than I even would have been. Just by virtue of understanding how to run deal processes (even if theyre just equity) and respond to MDs, you are far ahead of these knuckleheads. You have more of the intangible banking know-how than you realize. Since you're already in the process you don't have much time, I'd hit the guides hard and practice some modeling and fake it until you make it man.
edit: worth noting, I did this going from a MM to a BB. focus your deal experience on anything M&A related. The deal I talked about in every interview was an equity raise to pay down debt stemming from an acquisition the client made a full year before I even hit the desk in ECM - but I was able to parlay this into talking about the rationale behind the deal, how the integration had gone, whether it was accretive etc. Spin anything you can - when it comes down to it, what we did in ECM and M&A is fundamentally the same - thinking about positioning a company to be an attractive investment to a buyer / investor.
Cause at the end of the day there's always an MBA associate to run a lap around.
Thanks for your advice, really useful especially your point about the spinning deal flow experience for the interview, I completely forgot about this so this will definitely help be better prepared, thanks.
Yeah exactly, the idea of me having to manage analysts makes me so nervous considering I have no idea about the work myself, e.g. if an analyst asks me about a model I’d be like ermm let me google that and watch a 2 hour YouTube video and I’ll see if I can find the answer or if they ask about the data room or m&a process / time table etc I will have no clue. How did you find picking up these things once you started?
I am based in London so unfortunately MBA is not a path for IB associate recruiting here, (99% of associates in London come from analyst promotions) in fact this EB has no MBA backgrounds at all in the team every associate came from promotion from analyst or was a lateral from another EB so they will be miles ahead of me which adds more pressure
Did the BB you jumped to do modelling in-house? If not, have you still been learning significantly more than you were in your ECM team even though all of the modelling is outsourced to the M&A team? Thanks in advance.
I’m only a few months into the job, but yeah M&A will often times hold the pen on our deals (but not always). I think the real upside to coverage vs ECM is the ability to really dig deep on the companies and understand how they work. In ECM i was cranking out 20+ BS pitch books per week and barely knew anything about the companies I worked on. In coverage I’m on 1/5th the number of pitches which means far more time spent thinking about the company, their industry, etc. despite outsourced modeling, my group still places well into PE, so we’ll see how much I’ll have to teach myself vs not on the modeling side.
Incoming MBA associate. You’re already going to be light years ahead of me and the rest of my smooth brain MBA cohort.
Best of luck! but I guess your team will be aware you’re an MBA so won’t expect anything impressive from you until you learn on the job?
Whereas I’m in London so MBAs is not a thing here, all associates come from analyst promotions so unfortunately all my associate peers will have already spent 2-3 years as an m&a analyst
Just know the technicals cold and practice M&A models from macabus, multiple expansion, wall street prep, breaking into wall street. Take a week off work to really focus, then just keep up the studying on the side. You'll be fine, you just need to sell that you're proactively learning this stuff, and aside from teaching yourself the hard skills you'll also bring the soft skills necessary to plug in quickly
You miss all the shots you don't take.
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You know that ECM isn't intellectually stimulating for you and you know you are interested in M&A so why not take a shot? If you get through the whole interview process and get the offer then you are probably good enough to hit the ground running because obviously the interviewers are looking for people who can do well and they also know what the job really entails so if they think you are good, then you are fine. If let's say you don't get the job then that's okay too. The process will, I am sure, help you get to know the processes/job better and you can use that logic when you interview for another M&A position.
I actually want to do the opposite (go from bb M&A to ECM)
M&A is lame a phuck. brb lets build out ginormous models with a million sensitivities that no one cares about and are completely wrong (always hilarious to see how the sell model looks a few years later and compare how wrong it was for projections)
Plus its the worst hours by far
Just want theoretically lower hours and minimal weekend work while stilling pulling as much comp as possible. dont care about intellectual stimulation (and personally building a massive contact log for 50+ buyers isn't intellectually stimulating anyways).
A banker once told me, "We'll talk about the hard skills learned in banking as if we learned how to code neural networks or something".
Joining a BBs ECM team later this year. Really enjoyed my summer internship, both the dealwork and the team. However, pretty scared over the little to no financial modelling.
Any of you guys know if theres a chance I can rotate to other teams at the bank in Y2/3? Would enjoy getting some LevFin / M&A / Coverage experience.
It's all possible if you connect with the right people from other teams. Wouldn't worry if I were you.
Absolutely love people assuaging OP's fears by saying there's always an MBA associate around that you can compare yourself to
Which is funnier because this point is actually invalid as he is in London where there are no MBAs so all associates are direct promotions from analysts
Need to ask yourself what you want to do in the long run. Really few routes:
1. Stay ECM track and gun for promotes
2. Move over to M&A and gun for promotes
3. Jump ship out of ECM into corporate, you'll likely go corp dev or inv. relations
4. Same for M&A corp roles
Only reason I'd jump M&A is if you plan on leaving for traditional buy-side ex. opps. We all know what those r. I'd be a little wary of this path though. Grass is not always greener
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