My friend's dad received a call from a boutique M&A investment bank looking to help sell his dad's business. Since my friend wants to work in the IB field, should he use this moment to call and inquire about an internship with them or would that be frowned upon? I'm not sure if this will rub off the wrong way or not. My friend is a rising junior at a non-target. Thanks!
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I don't think it'd be out of line for your friend's dad to mention that his son is super interested in IB and would love to job-shadow at their office for a week or two. Bankers have done far more questionable things for fees.
So it's best for his dad to call and mention his son is interested instead of the son calling himself?
Maybe his dad could set up a phone call for his son.
It may seem "sleazy" or something, but that is actually a fantastic opportunity for your friend to leverage. Their level of eagerness to help your friend will probably be correlated with how much money they will generate on the deal. Honestly if we were talking about a BB rather than a boutique, I would say your friend would be in an even better spot, as they would have many more positions available.
Honestly this is just part of the business and the bankers will likely go out of their way to be helpful to your friend. Think about it: if they make way more on this deal than the cost of paying him as an intern, it looks attractive. I would utilize this 100%.
This makes sense, thank you!
I say fuck it and go for it. What's he got to lose.
Nothing wrong with inquiring. BBs might be concerned about documenting everything to make sure there is no appearance of a tit-for-tat arrangement, but that’s more for protecting their own reputations than anything else.
If selling the company is like 5 years out - sure doesn’t matter and go for it.
If it’s near term - more to lose. Let’s say it’s a random boutique that’s not so good at its job. dad company has $10mm EBITDA. Son gets internship, now he feels owed and gives mandate. Boutique is not so good at what it does, messes up the process where it either fails and company gets a bad rap and it’ll take years to monetize again or you get a lower price. Even 2x difference in multiple is like $20mm hit to what the dad / family would make - not worth the internship at some random boutique. If he doesn’t give the mandate, everyone hates the son when he is working there - also awkward. It’s the dad’s best interest to hire the best possible bank vs trying to get a low fee or get some internship favor.
This is the most insightful answer yet, thank you very much!
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