Why Do Investment Banker Make So Much?

Why do people in Investment Banking make so much money? The question has been oft-heard and is as often as Excel gets heard in financial analysis. When it is just another banking job, why should one get paid so high that every career aspirant wants a job in IB?

Yes, IB has those punishing hours of 80-120 hours at times per week and do have such high-stress values that it is an accepted fact that 44 per cent look for alternative careers even before they get promoted upwards and hardly have a social life.

It is also true that you are at the client’s mercy and that it is a competitive field where every other person is highly educated if not more. All valid points that could be also be applied to entrepreneurs and other careers too? So why?

What People in Investment Banking Actually Get Paid?

Commissions: In Investment Banking at the level of MD/Group Head/ VP, you really start earning well. That’s because every sale gets you commissions just like the car selling agent or real estate broker does. Banks sell the companies for acquisitions, mergers and restructuring. Higher the deal amount betters the commissions.

And when the deals run into many millions, billions or thousands of them calculate the commissions! They are just selling very high-priced commodities.

Expenses and margins:
Well if that’s true then the wealth management and commercial finance people should also make as much. No, they do not. Because the commission rates are lower and they have more incidental expenses like effective profit margins. The ATMs, branch offices, cheque books all cost money.

Even when you deposit money into your savings accounts and the money is larger than the ceiling limit you have to pay the bank for depositing your money with them. However, paying 1per cent on USD 1 million in the checking account is not fair right?

Banks, in contrast to real businesses, have very few staff, small offices, tiny payrolls by contrast, and almost zero real expenses like infrastructural costs, manufacturing processes, or maintenance and operational expenses. Perhaps they do have a tiny bit of travelling and hotel expenses which the client gladly pays for the banker’s role as intermediaries and custodians besides the regular multi-million dollar fees for their services.

About a generous 50 to 60per cent of such revenue goes to the IB employees as bonuses, salaries and commissions. Now that’s why they get paid so much.

Why Investment Banking is a Popular Career Choice?

Are you aware of why most foreign banks have an office in and operate from India? The factors that contribute to their presence are:

• Availability of skilled local talent in data analytics.
• Large English speaking population.
• Presence of services like LPOs, KPOs, back-offices and transcription services.
• Lower costs in financial operations.
• Availability of reliable firms like Infosys, Wipro, TCS, Syntel to do business with.
• Training institutes for technological skills and the latest trending skills are world class.

These banks need to run profitably and promote the use of local talent who find well-paying prestigious jobs and make investment banking their careers.

Investment Banking Services:
Certification in IB helps.
The Investment Banking certification measures your skills in the services of an investment bank. Namely,
• Advice on buy-outs and acquisition of firms.
• Acquisition and mergers
• Trading in securities
• AMC
• Corporate finance
• Services involving Custodianship
• Restructuring of debts
• Other allied services.
• Capital market investments

Education:
The career progression in Investment Banking requires sound financial knowledge. A graduation degree is not mandatory and IB encourages disciplines like finance, economics, business administration, and mathematics which do give you an upper hand.

Doing an IB certification endorses and enhances your skill sets for the job and your resume. Certification also serves the purpose of being a measurable index of practical implementation skills in the basics of IB. The career progression ladder may also have an odd-ball who starts as an Intern, moves to an Associate role, and then upwards to Vice President, CFO, MD job roles etc.

Skills required:
The banking field’s crucial skills are:

• A graduate degree for Associate roles.
• Adept at Microsoft PowerPoint presentations and Excel manipulation techniques, and MS Office and Word suites.
• Extremely long working hours of 80 hours with hardly any holidays.
• Being a team player and effective learner from feedback.
• An eye for details and data organization.
• Conceptual knowledge of accounting and financial issues and solutions.
• Investment banking certification course.
• Financial and business modelling knowledge.

In parting, the Investment Banking career aspirant does make a wise choice for some fantastic pay-packages. The demand for them is high. If you want to be in IB then do the course at Imarticus Learning who even offer assured placements to the deserving in this hallowed field.

A Look at The Top 5 Largest M&A Deals of All Time

Did you know that 2018 was globally the most happening year for deals in the capital markets and mergers or acquisitions in particular?

In investment banking circles, 2015 is remembered and used as a case study for two M and A deals. The deals of SABMiller PLC’s tie-up with Anheuser-Busch InBev worth 106 billion$ and the Allergan PLC tie-up with Pfizer Inc. for 160 billion$. Both deals are expected to be completed soon and are memorable because they comprise deals between rival forces merging. Both of these recently announced megadeals form giant conglomerates in their respective verticals.

Dealogic ranks M and A deals. According to their ratings, the top 5 deals of recorded times are as follows.

1. 1999 deal of Mannesmann being acquired by Vodafone AirTouch for USD 172 billion
This largest deal of all times was a cross-border, resisted hostile takeover. At that time Mannesmann was Germany’s number one wireless carrier and Vodaphone likewise Britain’s biggest wireless carrier. It was still the time of voice-only fixed lines and the sale of voice-only mobiles was not only popular but booming as well. Smartphones were in their infancy and Germany was definitely not a hostile takeover capital market.

Fighting the rivals for three months, Mannesmann tried for a merger deal with the French company Vivendi. Vodaphone struck back by forging a sweet deal with the French company. Once the writing was on the wall Mannesmann gave up as even the shareholders were in favor of the Vodaphone offer for a merger. Thus was born the world’s largest deal in investment banking and the biggest conglomerate mobile phone service provider.

2. 2015 deal of Allergan and Pfizer merger worth USD 160 billion

This deal is a unique case study where Allergan and Pfizer set about creating the planet’s biggest company in pharmaceuticals with Pfizer’s Celebrex and Viagra on the same selling platform as Allergan’s Botox. The Pfizer move for inversion meant lowering of taxes as the US company could use the technique of inversion to claim incorporation in foreign countries with lower tax-rates while merging with Allegran who are Dublin-based. The US government termed unpatriotic such inversion moves and passed a bill to restrict such moves. However, the Allergan-Pfizer union could sidestep the rules since the acquiring company was indeed a foreign company.

3. 2013 deal of Verizon Wireless merging with Verizon Communication in a merger worth USD 130 billion
Vodafone was not the buyer but seller in this deal. Verizon Communications the U.S.-based giant in the telecom field bet big on broadband and cellphone services to buy the 45 percent stake it did not own from its JV partner Vodaphone, in a deal worth 130 billion$. Dealogic also ranks this the largest corporate bond issue in investment banking, because financing was through 49 billion $ in bonds by Verizon making Verizon Wireless today’s largest carrier with more than 137.5 million global customers for its wireless services.

4. 2015 deal of SABMiller acquisitionuse by Anher-Busch InBev for USD 117 billion
The 117 billion$ worth merger of the two brewery giants created a giant union selling a close 33% of the global beer sales. Anheuser-Busch the Belgium-based renowned brewer found a willing sales merger partner in buying SABMiller who are U.K.-based brewers. SABMiller bargained its way to a great deal almost 50 percent higher than its closing price just a day before announcing the deal. This merger has stellar brands like Budweiser, Pilsner Urquell and Stella Artois from a 64 billion $ worth titan brewery today. The anti-trust approvals are still pending in many countries and when the deal fails, SABMiller will still receive the breakup fee of 3billion$.

5. 2003 deal of Time Warner’s acquisition by America Online in a marriage of sorts worth USD 112 billion
According to Bloomberg America Online’s purchase of Time Warner worth 112 billion$ could be famous as the 5th largest deal in history, and infamous as the worst corporate marriages in M and A global history. What was being touted as a synergetic marriage of new and old media giants, with Time Warner being the largest entertainment company and AOL being the pioneer of bringing internet to its customers, was doomed to a disastrous start. In just a few months the economy slumped with the bursting of .com bubble. The two companies were culturally too different to establish the promised progressive initiatives. Later that year AOL had accumulated losses of 99 billion $ which grew to 100 million$ plus in the next few years. The initial losses included charges that were reported at declining share values of AOL and in 2009 AOL was spun off by Time Warner amid huge shareholder losses.

Concluding notes:

An important investor lesson learned was that the mergers do not always yield benefits promised. Do an Investment Banking Course with Imarticus Learning to learn the nitty-gritty of M and A deals and exercise caution as a shareholder investor. All the best with M and A deals and your investment banking course!

The Evolution of Corporate Strategy From Budgeting in The 1950’s

Learning all about how strategy in corporate is impacted by the budget vision, balance scorecards, goal weights, and such actions, is critical to succeeding in a highly competitive corporate environment. Such learnings should be explored about modern corporate ecosystems and are best achieved in the classroom mode of learning.

There are a number of factors that affect corporate strategy. In this article, we shall discuss the bare essentials of vision, budgets, the BSC and goal weights and how they impact competitive strategy.

Corporate Vision:

Most corporate strategies do have a vision. Look at the functioning of Southwest Airline’s Herb Kelleher who had the foresight to bring flight prices on par with road travel. Working on his intuition and corporate strategy, the airlines evolved as the leading low-cost carrier. However, blinding vision can also overlook realities in the market place. Like the Enron case study where Jeffrey Skilling’s vision was to make it unstoppable because of its quantitative processes and securitization.

However, the concept was blinded to endemic problems and led to a significant financial drain. Similar to this was the idea of Jack Welch in corporate strategy that every business should either be number one or two in its category or be disbanded. The vision had a short life and was found faulty as success evaluation was very different from slotted classes.

Corporate strategy has evolved since the 1950s:

Great strategists in Indian history, since the first budget in the 1950s, were those leaders who personified the timeless corporate principles and could gauge the game a few moves ahead of the others. To them, there is no winning. Rather it is about finding newer challenges, gaining better skill sets and the resources to handle them all. In corporate strategy and especially in India, the corporate strategy since independence has been closely linked to the budget and its vision.

Competitive corporate strategy and Goal-weights:
Citing from a 2002- book by Professors Gary Latham and Edwin Locke who wrote extensively on corporate goal-setting based on their combined 70years of experience, competitive strategy goals should be defined as below.

Better performance comes from setting challenging goals.
More significant effort is generated from higher goals.
Rapid work is possible with tighter deadlines.
Personal commitments made public enhances the probability of succeeding.
Goal achievement is not impacted by who and how the goals are set.
Though this strategy seems simple and perfect many organizations follow policies that are in total opposition. Like strategies that indicate goals relatively as in cascading goals, the SMART goals and using percentage goal weights.

A SMART goal is ‘Specific’ and ‘Measurable’ while being ‘Attainable’ to the doer, ‘Realistic’ in quantitative terms and ‘Time-bound’ with specific deadlines. This method shows results when looking if goals are set and are specifically well-stated.

Cascading goals from the top downwards should never be limiting and rigid. They need to be in line with the goals of the executive team and individual goal setting.

The use of goal weights often proves counter-productive when one uses percentages. Instead, the best way is to indicate low, medium and high goals as the priority base.

Having looked at the various methods involved in goal-setting let us reiterate that while goal setting is of prime importance, there is no one way or technique to achieve goal success. Research by Latham and Locke point out that investing thought, effort and time into goal setting does payoff. One needs to be cautious with cascading management goals, avoid numerical and percentage weights and not blindly following the SMART test.

The Balanced Scorecard:
The BSC helps manage and implement corporate strategy within a time framework. The BSC is a useful tool which links strategic objectives to the vision, measures initiatives, and targets, and balances financial measures with KPI indices. It applies across the organization and improves business performance. The technique was first advocated by Dr. David Norton and Dr. Robert Kaplan in the early 1990s and is accepted as being the theory.

Conclusion:

Concepts like the balanced scorecard, cascading goals, SMART goals and using percentage goal weights in goal setting are an integral part of corporate strategy. If this field interests you Imarticus Learning has some excellent courses in corporate strategy.

At Imarticus, it is essential to learn the best positive approach and test all theories. The assignments, case studies, and project portfolio are all practically oriented. The Investment Banking Courses also have modules in honing soft-skills and personality development coupled with assured placements and a well-accepted certification. So why wait any longer? Join today!

What are the Benefits of Investment Banking Certification

With the rapid pace at which technology and data have evolved in the last decade, organizations have had to find newer practices in financial management and banking too. Whether you wish to make a career, switching jobs or are aspiring for a promotion, organizations want to know before recruiting that the aspirant has sufficient experience and certification in banking practice. This is where the employers need a measurable validation of your banking experience from a reputed institution to provide them with exactly this information.

How the Investment Banking Course Helps

The aim of the Investment Banking course is to ensure

  • Prepares you for final investment banking certification exams.
  • Aspirants are job-ready from day one.
  • Frequent updates and mock interviews for job placement.
  • Career guidance and interview-skills workshops.
  • Resume writing, assistance and application techniques.
  • Assured job placements.

The best learning courses for IB certification ensure they bridge the gaps in technological and soft skills while producing job-ready aspirants who can hit the ground running. The three components covered are

  • Experiential learning: The courses have experiential practical training led by certified and industry-drawn instructors and mentors, Excel-based technology training, powerful discussion forums, Post-course engagement, and a host of assignments and case studies.
  • Soft-skills Learning: Inclusive of interpersonal communications, email and virtual communication, decision making, time management, problem-solving, assertiveness and emotional intelligence building.
  • Course Learning: This module is comprehensively handled through extensive classroom sessions using tools like video lectures, real-life simulations, assured placement sessions, resume writing and building sessions, mock interviews and more.

Why Investment Banking Certifications are So Essential:

Certifications like the investment banking certification besides being a goal achieved can also provide you with a number of other benefits like

  • Builds your confidence and adds to your resume.
  • Measures your Excel, technological and presentation skills.
  • Visibility in a pool of aspirants in the job market.
  • Salaries that are probably better and account for a better experience in banking practice.
  • Credibility that you know, implement and practice the techniques learnt in the course.
  • Match market and technological trends that are current and in demand.

Job Perks:

A quick look at the salaries range shows that IB salaries can range from 6 to 22 lacs. Those with certification do tend to draw and negotiate contracts paying them 20 to 40% more than the median salaries.
Recruiting Companies:
Recruiting companies includeJP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan and Stanley, Accenture, Datamatics, Deloitte, BSE, Adobe, Acer, Aaj Tak, Amazon, Yes Bank, Bajaj, Springboard, 99 acres, Mahindra group, Heng Seng Bank, BNP Paribas, HSBC, and more.

Minimum education:

Banking does require sound financial knowledge and though not mandatory graduation in economics, finance, business administration, math, etc does give you an edge. So do the certifications in the field, especially when they come from a reputed institute like Imarticus, and serve as measurable indices of skill and experience in the required concepts of banking like in IB or AM.

Climbing the job ladder:

Starting as an intern and working your way up to the licensing and certifications in the US is very popular.
• 2 to 3 years as an Intern Financial Analyst in both fields.
• AM/IB Associate.
• VP- Investment Banking/ Asset Management.
• IB/AM Director.
• MD, CFO etc.

Investment Banking Salaries

There is hardly any difference in the pay packages across the various sectors of IB. In early 2004, the median professional IB salary was 315,000 USD. A decade later the figures for the IB salary stood at 288,000 USD. Investopedia reports suggest the median 2015 the investment banker’s salary was in the range of 75,000 to 85,000 USD. The performance bonuses added to take it to 140,000 USD for bankers in the early first year. Asset managers pay packages varied between 55,000 to 100,000 USD with a flat cut in the funds managed by them. Thus the financial crisis, global shifts in capital markets and new financial products will see the IB salaries rise and the gaps in salaries across IB services close, according to an FT article source.
Conclusion:
Banking jobs are high-prestige, well-paying secure fixed-hours jobs. There is an unending demand of aspirants seeking bank- job prospects and the scope for the demand in personnel is always rising. The US Labor Department predicts a decade of growth of 12% starting from 2014. This is so as the financial instruments are also evolving fast based on market requirements and both the technology and concept applications get complex and new-age. Do your investment banking certification at Imarticus Learning and kick-start your career today.

What is Difference Between Investment Banking and Corporate Finance?

Both investment banking and corporate finance deal with financial transactions and banking with some key differences. While investment banking deals with growing a company through raising its capital base the corporate finance division deals with managing the company and its daily operations and its goals for business both long and short term in nature. IB operates in raising capital for the company in the form of securities in the equity and debt markets. The IB also helps advice clients in acquisitions, mergers, placing investments, and executing financial research and analyses.

Another glaring difference between the two pertains to the experience and academic qualifications required to be in investment banking being higher, more demanding and expensive when compared to those required for the corporate finance banker.

However, there is a lot of overlap in the two areas in terms of educational qualifications and job-skills required for both areas. Thus one can expect the IB requisite skills to also apply for the corporate finance FAs.

Pay Packages:
In the US the financial analyst in IB had an average salary of 84,300 USD as reported in 2017 by the BLS. The CFO salary had an average monthly pay package of 104,700 USD.

According to Wall Street Oasis, the starting career step of a junior IB analyst was in the range of 70,000 to 150,000 USD annually with negotiated bonuses and performance incentives added in. The BLS predicts 11 percent growth in FA positions between the decade starting 2016. This is better than the 8% anticipated growth for the corporate FAs.
Payscale reports the investment banker salary is an average salary of 508, 855 Rs for a fresher.

The salary components can vary between 177,560 to 1,545, 630 Rs while the bonuses can vary with contract negotiation from 2,517 to 524, 023 Rs depending on your skills and performance. In the US this is between 75-90k pa and an average total of 140k pa for a fresher.

Thus the total payouts can be much higher depending on performance and bonuses. Doing the investment banking course helps you earn a global measurable certification which validates your skills and knowledge and is acceptable as real-life experience of the financial and investment banking experience requirements preferred by most employees.

Difference Between Investment Banking and Corporate Finance

The major difference in the two segments pertains to salary or payouts and work-loads.
Burnout occurs with long working hours and much work. More than one-half of the banking job aspirants, especially in IB, quit in the first three years!

The IB teams are generally small and lean with one analyst, two associates and a VP reporting to the Lead Director. And the working is inverted bottom up, meaning they bear all the workload. An 80 to 100 hour week with working Sundays is not uncommon and social life grinds to a complete halt.

In contrast, FAs in corporate finance jobs benefit from the corporate culture and the working hours are definitely not as punishing. The FAs in IB though receive a flat percentage of their business meaning their take-home pays are way higher and performance-based.

There is a lot of prestige in IB jobs, and in the same breath, corporate finance jobs are not so easy to get and are still a good career choice. Aspirants for the allure and prestige of the IB job need to work harder, with more work-loads and long hours when compared to the FAs of Corporate Finance. That’s why they get paid higher and ascend the ladder quicker.

The ladder to climb in IB starts with the junior position, to an Associate role in 3 years leading to the VP role and then the Lead/ Managing Director etc. Corporate finance offers many opportunities as advisors, accountants, account managers, treasurers, analysts, business analysts etc.

Conclusions:
The prestigious investment banking job allows you to either start as a Junior Analyst with an under graduation or as an Associate with experience by doing your Banking and financial course with a reputed institute like Imarticus Learning. The requirements are no different for the corporate finance sector.

However, specialization and certification in the area or vertical you are interested in help. The prestigious Investment Banking jobs are generally filled with ivy-league business school graduates especially in reputed companies like Morgan and Stanley or Goldman Sachs etc.

Doing the Investment Banking Course at Imarticus is the short cut to a great Investment Banking career. Why wait then?

Career and Scope of Investment Banking in India

Investment banking is a truly up and coming career option that is becoming growingly popular among the ambitious youth in India. An investment banker, simply put, is someone who helps their client (often a bank or a financial firm) invest their money in a way that will help them yield the highest possible returns. These jobs come with a lot of responsibility like dealing with debt, stocks and bonds, mergers and acquisitions, securities and derivatives.

Being a successful and good investment banker is bound to be a challenge. Cracking this code requires you to be great with numbers. In addition, you need to also possess substantially good verbal and written communication skills. Honing your presentation skills will also benefit you enormously to land that dream job. Investment bankers are required to do extensive research of the market before making any suggestion about potential investments and would thus need to have their research and analysis skills on point. Endurance is also a key in this highly-stressful job with long and, often, odd hours.

That being said, there are also a number of reasons the youth in India is flocking towards this career. It is an exceedingly rewarding job with rewards in monetary terms as well as personal and career growth. It is a fast-paced job that requires you to be on your toes a lot and be constantly updated about the market – which changes a lot. This leaves an enormous scope for learning which is a truly valuable thing in anyone’s career. Another very important reason for this being a popular career choice in finance is that this job gives you pathways to bigger careers like entrepreneurship, wealth management and venture capital.

A huge reason for the growth of this career over the past few years in globalisation which has led to a booming financial sector. India is a rapidly growing economy with numerous multi-national companies setting up shop around the country. This has opened up several available positions for students who specialise in investment banking.

The good news for anyone considering this career is that you don’t require any specific stream. You can get into the field irrespective of if you have a background in science, arts or commerce as far as your subjects are related – like maths and economics. As for higher education, any aspiring investment banker in India is required to have an MBA degree (Masters in Business Administration). Some institutes also provide diplomas and certificates while some even conduct workshops for investment banking. Top institutions in India for the field of investment banking are ones like Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India University and Symbiosis School of Banking Management.
Along with your education, to get into this competitive field, internships are going to be your best friend. The more well-known the company you intern at, the better your CV looks to the recruiter and the better your chances of getting hired. But even getting a good internship is hard so you can always start out small at a smaller bank or a boutique firms. Experience is a key to rising higher as an investment banker and internships are meant for the exact purpose. Top Investment Banks like the Citi Group, JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank are great places to aim at.

With your degree in hand along with your internship experiences, you can expect to earn anywhere between 6-7 lakhs per annum which will only grow leaps as you work more and gain more experience. If you think that you can efficiently fill the requirements and have a passion for finance, Investment Banking is the ideal choice for you.

Also Read: Is Investment Banking High Paying Job

Impact of Technology on Investment Banking

The Financial Services industry is without a doubt seeing the effect of innovation driven change either straightforwardly to their plans of action (for both customer and business customers) or even as an optional or tertiary effect, given it’s at the center of all different ventures. While these organizations have made a tolerable showing with regards to by and large of receiving more current and propelled advancements, they clearly need to get a move on of appropriation or hazard losing piece of the overall industry to the freshest participants – or more terrible, getting to be noticeably out of date.
The most recent influx of development and technology is about versatility. The web based keeping money and financier encounter has now moved onto your telephone which upgrades accommodation on many levels.
Banking and Investment applications would now be able to connect into your telephone’s GPS to give you area based data, for example, closest ABMs and branches.
Versatile and remote advances are a greater amount of a development in my psyche as they haven’t radically changed the market as much as past developments.
Remote installment innovation over RFID (Visa Pay Wave, MasterCard Pay Pass) is up to twice as quick as utilizing money or check cards. Charges won’t be dropping but rather buyers are getting back another extremely significant ware, time.
The normal retail Investment Banker or Financial Analyst won’t think excessively about how quick their exchanges are executed however dealers, institutional speculators and mutual funds do.
Executing exchanges a couple of milliseconds quicker on a trade can have a major effect when you are doing thousands or even a huge number of exchanges a day.
Getting the most ideal cost for your customers encourages them spare cash while it will also facilitate those who are putting the exchanges, they will get more business. There are different contentions that fast exchanging can prompt higher expenses for speculators nonetheless.
Fiber optic interchanges, quick figuring force and reason manufactured applications all add to executing exchanges rapidly.
While the pace of innovation change in the budgetary division may be ease back in respect to different regions, despite everything it has an extremely critical effect.
Regardless of whether we understand it or not, advancements in innovation for the managing an account segment influence us consistently.
To stay in the lead, money related and finance administrations associations must acknowledge and adjust to the way that the client base they serve is experiencing a noteworthy move as far as purchasing practices and inclinations, a lot of which is being driven by the computerized innovation transformation, especially online networking and portable. Era Y, for instance, needs more decision and control by the way they interface with a bank or insurance agency, regardless of whether it act naturally coordinated, web drove, individual to-individual, on the telephone or in an office. Accordingly, organizations must change their customary models and items to benefit this developing and evolving client

Back to Basics | Mergers & Acquisitions

This is the classic investment banking product offering and involves providing advice to businesses, private investors, government agencies, private individuals and families in divesting and acquiring assets. Advice is provided on a full range of transactions including mergers, sales, buyouts, divestments, leveraged buyouts, joint ventures, raid defenses, spin-offs.
The range of services includes origination of assets to acquire, structuring, negotiation, due diligence right up to documentation and closure. The banker or a team of bankers work side by side with the company often even in charting out their growth strategy before they decide to pursue inorganic growth.
Large bulge bracket M&A teams in Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan etc often have two parts to their business- Origination & Execution. Origination involves the sourcing of deals, which includes business environment analysis, company research, pitching and agreeing on terms. Once a deal has been sourced and the target/strategy agreed on the execution team steps in to validate, value, structure and close.
To understand how interconnected the entire spectrum of banking is, we will use the example of Company ABC. ABC is bottling Water Company undertaking a huge organic and inorganic expansion plan. This strategy in itself might have been formulated with the help of a consultancy firm like McKinsey or Monitor. Once a strategy has been formulated,  ABC  retains an M&A team to chart out its inorganic strategy and put out a criteria list. The M&A team will then scout the globe and bring back a laundry list of possible  matches according to the criteria list. They shortlist and start contacting the companies, or their respective bankers and after a lengthy process of sharing preliminary information, they zoom in on XYZ Water Company to be a suitable strategic asset for ABC. The M&A team will now engage, value, and handle the entire transaction on behalf of its client from here on out till closure. Closure includes signing on the dotted line and the fulfillment of conditions precedent (Essentially terms that need to be fulfilled for money and shares to exchange hands)  Lawyers play a significant role in M&A as well and work in tandem with the M&A team especially in Due Diligence and Documentation.
This brings us to our IFAP course why it is different from other Financial Analyst Courses.  Our IFAP course covers this entire process in detail and will equip you with the tools required to understand and run this process effectively. We will teach you how to research companies, how to value them and use financial models in an M&A transaction. We will take you through the concept of synergy and control premiums. Finally we will take you through the salient points of documentation.