Ashwadhama Expresses How Imarticus Learning Gave His Career a Starting Point.

Ashwadhama joined Imarticus Learning as a fresher. He was just out of his graduation when he decided to make a career in Investment Banking and went for a training program by Imarticus Learning, and that was the starting point for his career. He never imagined how this one decision of his life could change his entire career path. He is grateful for the experience he gained at Imarticus Learning.
Ashwadhama expresses how he felt that he had so much to learn at first. Matching to the performance and abilities of his peers was quite difficult for him, but as time passed, he bridged the gap and started learning quickly. According to him, this was not a one-day change. It took him some time to learn and implement every concept taught to him, but he gives the due credits to Imarticus Learning’s experienced faculty for making him excel in the course in due course of time. He adds that his peers and the whole environment at Imarticus Learning made him strive for more than he had ever thought about.
Step by step, he climbed the ladder of knowledge at Imarticus and started to like the subject of Investment Banking. With Imarticus Learning Investment Banking Certification Course, Ashwadhama feels that he has achieved a certain level of knowledge to kick start his career in Investment Banking. For him, the course was a holistic approach to a lot of investment banking concepts.
According to Ashwadhama, what makes Imarticus Learning Investment Banking Certification Course different from the rest of the course providers is the in-depth knowledge that is provided. The technical support and experienced faculty help every student achieving his or her maximum potential. With varied types of learning methodologies and case studies given to students, Imarticus Learning is known to provide students with expert-level knowledge to deal with real-life investment decisions. With real-life case studies and paperwork, the institution makes sure that the students learn every bit of a concept so that nothing is missed out.
Ashwadhama is one example of how Imarticus Learning is changing the lives of the students who seek a career in the investment sector.  Referring to some other Imarticus learning reviews, it is quite clear that the institute is not a traditional learning center but a place where practical and theoretical knowledge go hand in hand. With a methodological approach towards teaching major investment lessons, Imarticus Learning is a promise for a brighter future for all its students.
Coming to the placements done by Imarticus Learning, it is quite inevitable that an institution which provides in-depth knowledge about the subject matter gets all its students placed in the best investment banks across the Globe. With a promising placement record, Imarticus Learning has the most interesting placement score as compared to those in the competition.
So, to be a part of the next investment revolution, enroll for a course at Imarticus Learning and take a step towards a better and brighter future. If you are a graduate, postgraduate or a working professional, Imarticus is the right place for you to pivot in the right direction while sketching your career graph.
Going by the positive Imarticus learning reviews, you can surely take a step forward and enroll for the next batch at Imarticus Learning. If you want to know about the various courses, offerings, and curriculum of the classes.
Get to study in one of the most prestigious institutions and build a career on stable foundations. For more details, you can also contact us through the Live Chat Support system or can even visit one of our training centers based in – Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Chennai, Banglore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Gurgaon, and Ahmedabad.

Varsha Jain – Getting Her Foot Right At The Door Of The Finance And Investment Banking

 

For Varsha Jain, getting her foot right at the door of the finance and investment banking has never been that easy. However, her determination and dedication and constant support of the Imarticus Learning Investment Banking Training have worked as a primary catalyst for her career flight. She is now well settled with the best industry job in investment banking with Barclays.

Well, it is Varsha who can better throw lights on her journey to a successful career at Barclays and help us get extensive knowledge about this fast-paced and challenging work profile.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Hi,

I am Varsha Jain. I am complacent about what I am doing now. I did my graduation from Shrivenkateshwara College in business management. From early childhood, the intriguing traits of money being borrowed, loaned and invested had always enticed me. I always found it interesting and exciting. That apart, high salary and growth on a global scale were key reasons to go for it. However, my parents were not convinced enough and they did not allow me to choose this career option. I was told it is a tough nut to crack and it is the best fit for men only. Hence, I should not waste my time after it.

On the other way around, I became more concerned about my career post-graduation. Things were not flexible enough for freshers like me and I was sort of depressed. Amidst this, my friend suggested me to check with Investment Banking Training with Imarticus Learning. I was so much in a hurry that I jumped in to check reviews on Imarticus in no minutes. The positive reviews on their learning platform boosted my confidence and helped me make a firm decision about my career. I was more determined to make my career in finance and investment banking.

Imarticus Investment Banking Course was a source of inspiration for me 

Post-graduation, the training program in investment banking was something I wanted to complete with dedication and nothing else mattered more. Getting to know I could nail each framework of this diverse financial structure of Imarticus investment course has instilled a sense of confidence and zeal to tread every challenge coming my way.

Impeccable Investment Banking Course focusing on extensive banking parameters 

Seeing is believing. That was what worked for me. Imarticus learning Reviews were positive feedback from the professionals. I myself visited their office at Delhi and got in touch with many professionals who landed some high profile investment jobs through their placement assistance. That was enough to instill energy and enthusiasm in me. As soon as I contacted them, I got to know about their course structures. Their custom banking and investment course is known as Certified Investment Banking Operations Professional or CIBOP are internationally accredited. It covers extensive banking operation details to highlight the laws and activities at a deeper level.

Customized Course To Suit Your Schedules 

Imarticus banking training offers flexible schedules to suit even professionals. For freshers, they offer the same flexibility as well. It was a 180-hour investment banking program, and I was able to learn different ethics of complex financial products, operational risks and laws and also trade lifecycle.

The CIBOP program is fully designed to equip each student with the required skills and know-how to be job-ready in investment banking industries.  Their real-time interviews are good enough to give you practical hands-on experiences about the industry too. They landed me through several mock-up interviews and helped me develop my interpersonal skills.

Upon completion of the course, I was handed a global certificate that gave me recognition as an industry professional in investment banking. And finally, the day came when I landed an investment banking job at Barclays through their placement platform.

Every penny matters and their impeccable investment banking course has an affordable fee structure to suit everyone.

I would recommend everyone to check with reviews on Imarticus once before they switch to other learning platforms. Connect with them today for more prospects in your investment banking career.

For more details in brief and for further career counseling, you can also visit – Imarticus Learning and can drop your query by filling up a simple form through the site or can contact us through the Live Chat Support system or can even visit one of our training centers based in – Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Chennai, Banglore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Gurgaon, and Ahmedabad.

 

Imarticus Learning Reviews – Anuraag Linga’s Astounding Journey With Imarticus

 

If you want a career in Investment Banking, Imarticus learning is your go-to place, says Anurag Linga, who had enrolled for Imarticus’ KYC-AML training program. According to Anuraag, it was a career-defining learning experience for him. With amazing trainers and best faculty members, Imarticus’ Investment Banking Training gave him a 360-degree exposure. For him, the program was a 45-days knowledge enriching program which was informative and fun at the same time. He recommends the course to everyone seeking a career in investment banking.

What Anurag liked the most was how the trainers were not providing bookish lessons but had in-depth knowledge of the subject, which made it interesting for him to study and learn new concepts. He also adds that the teaching methodologies were quite on point, making it easy for him to understand the intricate details of the training program.

For him, the highlight of the program was the correct curriculum implemented to convey each lesson in a systematic manner without missing on anything minor or major. 

Some of the advantages of the Imarticus Learnings’ Investment Banking Training mentioned:

  • With a process-specific course and well-defined syllabus, Imarticus provides every student with a chance to excel in various investment-related aspects.
  • Imarticus learning reviews every student’s performance and helps them leverage their strong areas while helping them to improve on their weak point.
  • With Imarticus learning placement, every student who undergoes training with them can find offers from the top investment banks from across the Globe.
  • At Imarticus, it is not just about point to point learning; it is about exploring a vast horizon of knowledge.
  • For students who want to start their career in investment banking, Imarticus learning provides career counseling sessions which are quite helpful.
  • The approach of conveying lessons is quite practical, and hence, it is easy for the students to associate the lessons with real case problems in the finance industry.
  • The courses at Imarticus learning are divided into four parts, namely classroom learning, experiential learning, reinforcement of learned concepts and state-of-the-art learning management system.

Talking about Imarticus learning placement, it is one of the most sought-after placements, which promise a valuable experience to all the candidates.

With all this said, Anurag concluded by saying that he has achieved what he desired with Imarticus learning’s training programs. For him, the training was not just about KYC-AML; it was about discovering a whole new side of the finance and the investment industry.

This was one of the many testimonials for Imarticus learning. As mentioned by Anuraag and many other candidates like him, Imarticus is not just an education center, it is a promise for a brighter future into investment banking.

With a holistic learning experience, Imarticus has taught students about a broader scope in the investment industry. The cutting-edge technical support, the highly experienced faculty and the best in class infrastructure is proof of the quality of education at Imarticus Learning.

So, what are you waiting for? If you want a career in investment banking, Imarticus is a one-stop solution for all your knowledge requirements. The Imarticus learning reviews are a testimony to the fact that it is not easy to build the right career track without taking the right career choices and Imarticus learning proves to be the right step if you hope for a fruitful career as an investment banker.

Enquire about the courses offered at Imarticus, enroll for the next batch and be a part of the change in the investment sector. With Imarticus, don’t just learn for the sake of it, look into the intricate side of every investment decision.

For more details regarding this in brief and for further career counseling, you can also visit – Imarticus Learning and can drop your query by filling up a simple form through the site or can contact us through the Live Chat Support system or can even visit one of our training centers based in – Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Chennai, Banglore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Gurgaon, and Ahmedabad.

Reviews For Investment Banking

 

A career in finance and investment banking lets you shape the nation’s economy. This is a major feat of anyone’s career that enables them to scale their country’s economy while ascending their own career on the top.

As you are determined on your stance to choose an investment banking career, you must prepare yourself to deal with financial analysis at every single step. Investment banking involves making money through selling company’s stocks to the public, issuing of bonds, assisting mergers and acquisitions and providing financial advisory services and much more.

The kind of financial activities in investment banking deals with is fast, ever-changing and challenging. This is where you must act impeccable and smart.  Unless you have in-depth know-how and real-world work experiences about this industry, you fail to make a mark in this industry. Imarticus learning Placement helps many around the nation make their dream come true through enhanced investment banking courses and training modules. As you take the course, your career trajectory would have no limit.

With a career in investment banking, you have immense opportunities to earn six-figure salaries. A 2017 study by LinkedIn showed that a mere invest banking analyst can earn $85,000 on an average annually. And with more than three years of experience can fetch a whopping $140,000 as a financial associate.

Isn’t it enough to lure you into the investment banking career? Can’t make out where to start from? The answer is very simple. Look no further than Imarticus Learning Placement. Don’t just believe our words. Have it from the people who have made it to the top investment banking sectors after their association with Imarticus Learning Investment banking program.

Check out some of the reviews from our students who had taken our Investment Banking courses for careers in top tier global investment banks and financial firms such as CITI, Barclays, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and many more and come out successful.

Ami T financial analyst 

Imarticus learning placement has a holistic approach to shape their students’ futures in finance and investment banking. I applied to model their investment banking course “Certified Investment Banking Operations Professional (CIBOP)” as early as year third of university so that I could make a direct transit to the job world in investment banking. Their curriculum was quite flexible and did not intervene with my college studies.

I am very satisfied with the program as its financial modeling helped me improve my skills and gain knowledge for personal development.

Zeon F Investment banking analyst 

Imarticus Learning just did what I wanted. Their program showcases all relevant financial topics in a deeper way. It emphasizes on financial analysis, budgeting, and valuation. Every topic is undertaken with a detailed focus. Surprisingly, it does not take years rather it takes only months to complete the course and land a job through their excellent placement platform. It is one of the best I have ever made. I would recommend everyone to take assistance in banking investments from Imarticus Learning.

Karthik Y investment analyst 

I would like to thank Imarticus to give me an excellent platform to transform my career in finance and investment banking. I personally enjoyed my studies. I had never issues with the study materials and got assistance on financial things whenever needed. They have an excellent team of faculty that take care of their students and make sure everyone gets better exposure.

Ravi A financial controller 

They have a great source of practical and well-structured course content. I have earned an extensive hands-on experience through their case studies and live financial projects. This practical learning module has helped me use straightway applications to solve financial issues. This is an excellent resource that has enhanced my career.

You can now trust Imarticus Learning. However, beware of Imarticus Learning fake programs. Look out for Imarticus logo representing a green flying falcon in front of the Letter I. Go ahead and make a career decision that is noteworthy.

For more details in brief regarding this, you can also contact us through the Live Chat Support system or can even visit one of our training centers based in – Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Chennai, Banglore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Gurgaon, and Ahmedabad.

Also Read: Introduction to Investment Banking

The Investment Banking Course That Would Help Change Your Life For The Better

Sai Charan recounts his experience of how a course, resulted in a job at one of the top investment banking firms.

Breaking into investment banking is easier said than done; this particular industry is quite competitive. And to make things worse, I had to deal with the fact that I had taken a break period for a couple of years to take care of my aged mom who also happens to be suffering from dementia.

My Name is Sai Charan G, and I have more than 5 years of work experience in the banking industry, with requisite degrees in Banking and finance. While the job in question remained satisfactory at best, I had long realized that I wanted something more, than just a regular bank job. It is around this time that I had to take a break, to take care of my aged mum, and help her deal with dementia as well.

After two protracted years, I was able to admit my mum in the right home, where she can get the care and treatment she deserves and started to apply for new job listings in the paper. But it seems that if you had taken a break, which counts against you even if the cause happens to be a reasonable one. It was not exactly pouring lucrative positions, and the jobs that I could land were more of entry type posts with loss of pay as well.

Imarticus investment banking course gave me my break

Given the fact that I was not exactly landing the job of my dreams, I came across the Imarticus course on investment banking and thought that I should give it a try. After all, I was not exactly landing the dream job.  What’s more, given my background in banking and finance, and my earlier work experience in the banking industry, it made perfect sense to opt for the course.

The course itself seemed to be geared towards investment banking, with a sharp focus on theoretical learning along with practical assignments as well. What sold me in was the fact that the course curriculum included a set of lectures by some of the top banking industry professionals as well.

The one worry I had was whether my break, in question would feature prominently in any bank related interviews, post the course. But a quick call to the Imarticus support staff soon set me straight on the same, and what’s more, Maria, one of Imarticus support staff provided me with a few suggestions on how to counter such questions as well.

The course rocked

Usually, most skill courses often do not live up to the hype but this one managed to hit all the right notes. It came with a platform that I could access 24/7 with most of the modules streamlined right to my laptop. And of course, the media files were streamlined and I could access them anytime I want and any number of times as well. The faculty proved to be more than helpful and were ready to help me understand the content so that I can develop and hone my skills and talent.

The final step

Thanks to this course, all that was left for me to do was to complete the final step and that was to update my resume and apply afresh. It was thanks to the Imartcus for an Investment Banking course that I had undergone a complete transformation for the better. And it is also due to this course, that I managed to land a job with JP Morgan Chase, one of the top investment banking companies in the world.

For more details in brief and further career counselling, you can also search for – Imarticus Learning and can drop your query by filling up a simple form on the website or can contact us through the Live Chat Support system or can even visit one of our training centres based in – Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi and Gurgaon.

What are the Useful Things One Learns Working in Investment Banking

When one looks back to what one really learnt from working in investment banking, it definitely will not be anything to do with investment banking itself per se. Rather; it emerges from a wide variety of answers on quora.com that most bankers listed out the following attributes that they learnt from being involved in this sector. Let us quickly list them in no particular order to help you understand the importance of soft-skills and personality development if you wish to make a career and are looking to learn investment banking.

Key Takeaways

A. Meticulous attention to details:
The areas of investment banking deal primarily with the IB advising his investor clients on how and where to invest their monies. The importance of these deals and their sheer sizes mean very often that the IB is good at number crunching and doing so with the ease of a trapeze artist over various areas of the business analysis decision impacting factors.

The attention to details is what ensures those decisions are right. The industry is definitely very competitive and hard work, money, time, effort and your reputation can be badly damaged if you make a mistake. So this is very important and never taught in colleges as a subject essential for IBs.

B. Hard work and discipline:
The investment banking sector is known to be extremely demanding and an 80 to 120 hour week should never surprise you. You probably will have zero time for social life and more than 44% of the fresh IBs quit in the first three years. So, other than the learn investment banking training you receive it means you develop the basics of being disciplined and working the long hours. At the end of the day, it is monetarily very rewarding.

C. Office politics:
Politics do exist in all organizations and it is just the scale that differs. Larger institutions should have more politics and these can affect your career progression as well. However, it really is not so bad as it looks since most novices learn their way around the hierarchies and develop their innovative ways of getting around this hurdle.

Such negatives do bring out the many positives of being innovative, having a pleasing personality, dealing with conflicting situations and more. It is just about the scale and how you learn to handle it.

D.The sales pitches:
IB is about selling and it starts very early in the IB career. You will quickly learn to effectively sell
• Your technical skills at the interviews.
• To your client with effective sales pitches.
• Your value to the organization in bringing in the deals.
• The institution’s products that you sell to the client.

Don’t worry at all. In life, you learn to sell ideas from the time you are an infant. Bawl and mamma comes running, fall sick and avoid homework etc. It is not aggressive selling, but you get the hang of selling ideas and improving your selling skills fast.

E. Business and financial modelling:
This is perhaps the one measurable, tangible and technical skill that you walk away with. You become adept at looking at the financial and business models and data without hassles and manipulating data and databases to give those valuable insights for business decisions and forecasts of trends in everything from stocks, to prices, industry trends, market conditions, and expert opinions and solutions on flop deals, foreclosures, bankruptcies and more. And yes, you present them in Microsoft Excel with ease!

F. Acting under pressure:
This attribute is a must to meet the many deadlines you face in a harrying day. Commuting, communicating, reporting deadlines, fire-drills, safety and compliance hurdles and what not. Every one of them is to be treated with equanimity and calm if you wish to avoid burnout. Of course, no one expects a robot. But it helps when you get trained to handle working and acting under pressure. That’s why you need to ‘learn investment banking’.

G. Being a global person:
This is definitely not jargon! Communicative skills, having a broad-minded perspective, linguistic skills and being able to use learning to practice and real-life situations can save many a deal and just being able to tackle the world at large.

H. Entrepreneurial spirit:
With so much exposure and pressure at work, it won’t be long before you wish to be an entrepreneur yourself after the burnout. Not easy but doable for an IB. Your learning, academics and continued learning of the client’s ecosystem will teach you to be a good entrepreneur.

In parting, we have just seen the important takeaways from investment banking. These are never taught in colleges and should have been essential subjects! At Imarticus Learning, you can learn investment banking from people who place special emphasis on training you to take the IB demands in your stride.

How Learning SAS Will Help Me in Investment Banking Career

SAS is a Statistical Analysis programming tool. Gaining proficiency in the SAS domain helps you make those complex statistical calculations. It is a desirable certification to get especially for risk-analysts in banks. A risk-analyst with an Investment Banking Career relies on SAS, for assessing investment risks that have the potential for default, foreclosure or termed bad loans. Such loans are poor risks and the banks have to ensure the borrowers pay the loan and interest in time.
An Investment Banking Career and SAS Certification involve a high degree of proficiency in mathematics, data engineering and a very good understanding of statistical analysis. You can do a career-oriented course at a reputed institute like Imarticus Learning for a credit-risk analyst. Normally the IB courses and working in IB do not use SAS extensively. They learn the languages and skills of an investment banker. However, if you plan to be an analyst in retail banking or risk-analyst in the investment banking division then SAS learning is a priority. Courses such as these also prepare you for measurable certification of technical skills. The Investment banking certification measures your skills in the services of an investment bank. Namely,

  • Acquisition and mergers.
  • Advice on buy-outs and acquisition of firms.
  • Trading in securities.
  • Corporate finance.
  • AMC.
  • Services involving Custodianship.
  • Restructuring of debts.
  • Capital market investments.
  • Other allied services.

Education:
The career progression in IB requires sound financial knowledge. A graduation degree is not mandatory though IB encourages disciplines like finance, economics, business administration, and mathematics which do give you an upper hand. Doing an Investment banking 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 Investment Banking Career field’s crucial skills are a mix of soft skills and technical skills. The basic attributes are

  • A graduate degree for Associate roles.
  • Financial and business modelling knowledge.
  • Conceptual knowledge of accounting and financial issues and solutions.
  • Adept at Microsoft PowerPoint presentations and Excel manipulation techniques, and MS Office and Word suites.
  • Ability to work 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.
  • Investment banking certification course.

Technical skills required:

Your degree in science, social sciences, psychology, pharmacy and such could be short of crucial subjects like mathematics, machine learning, algorithms, and computer engineering techniques which form the pillars of data science. But, you do have a huge advantage in your own domain. And that is a plus when you understand where and how to apply the algorithms to your field.

If you are a developer in the IB domain then most HR recruiters want to see the languages of the C suite like C , C#, R, Python, Java, and Matlab on your list of technical skills. In other words, an Investment Banking Career need not be just as a financial analyst, you could also be a BA, developer or full-stack developer and your technical skills required will depend on the job role.

SAS is used for financial reporting and is a good tool for the retail bankers, the equities market specialists, corporate bankers, in mergers and acquisitions and literally anywhere where the probability theory and the theory of regression modelling applies. Most legacy systems of banks use the C language which is not so common today. But, banks are transitioning to more modern and effective infrastructure to stay afloat and profitable amid rapid changes in AI, ML, data sciences and the sheer volumes of data generated.

Conclusion:
SAS is not a technical requirement for an IB career. However, SAS is a fantastic tool wherever probability, risk-analysis and statistical analysis applications are present. In parting, the Investment Banking Career does fetch some fantastic pay-packages. The demand for them is high. If you want to be in IB then do the apt course at Imarticus Learning who even offer assured placements to the deserving trained aspirants in this hallowed field of IB.

Also Read: Investment Banking Career Path

Difference Between Investment Banking and Venture Capital

Venture capital and investment banking are different, important types of professional finance companies. Not many can differentiate between them except academicians and the experts in the financial circles. Let us explore the differences by defining the two firstly.

Venture Capital:

Venture capital deals with the investment capital of firms seeking venture capital for startups, new businesses and fast-growing firms. The returns could be excellent as also the possibility of losses being high.

Most tiny start-ups are not financially large and cannot access the global markets for capital, unlike larger firms. Yet, they need funds from proven idea to the stage of scaling and beyond to evolve successfully. Venture capital fills this gap by picking up equity in such firms as their investments. Venture capitalists partner the growth of such firms. Since they own significant equity in the companies it is natural that they sit on the board not just to protect their investments but also to significantly influence the decisions, strategies and operations directed at the growth and profitability of the firm.

Venture capitalists, being partners could earn fantastic returns on the success of the venture and also accept losses if the venture fails. It is understandable then that such funds are released in small doses over a period of time as agreed upon.

Investment banking:

The investment banks are also lenders of capital at various scales and from different branches under the same umbrella. They could be direct investors and most often act as intermediaries helping to raise investment capital.
Some examples of companies raising funds are in the issuances of bonds, IPO’s and OIUs. Different branches like retail banking, corporate finance, wealth management etc are involved in offering funds to corporates, syndicated financial institutions and the governments for infrastructure projects. Investment Banking deals with HNI individuals, syndicated funds etc to SMEs and retail products like credit/debit cards, bank accounts for individual investors.
Investment Banking plays the role of an intermediary in the acquisitions and merger deals. They advise on equity markets, mutual fund investments, and play a consultant to borrowers in their financial and borrowing journeys. Their profits trickle in as interest rates charged fees, consultancy retainers and such. Banks may also have in-house trading facilities.

The key differences:

The main difference is in the investment pattern. The banks offer loans at interest. The venture capitalist actually invests directly in the firms in the form of equity. Banks can be the intermediaries of the venture capital deals and the M and A deals. The venture capitalist has no role in the operations of banks.

While the venture capitalist is gunning for large profits earned as a partner in the buss the bank charges interest and fees. The VC may earn profits or lose his capital. The bank operation, on the other hand, does not impact the recoverable fees. They also target different kinds of customers. The VC is basically looking only at borrowers and high-risk operations. The banks, on the other hand, are relatively risk-averse and have investors and borrowers from whom they earn fees or interest for their involvement. Venture capitalists invest in potentially profitable start-ups with huge implications. IBs work with financial institutions and firms who also have access to global markets, and capitals markets abroad.

If you are interested in Investment Banking and becoming a banker the CIBOP course at Imarticus Learning are highly recommended. The IB jobs are prestigious, pay well and are constantly facing a demand for well-trained professionals.

IB career-scope and payouts:

In terms of career prospects, salaries, job roles and working conditions there is a lot of overlap between various divisions in the investment banking sectors. However, asset management has a slight lead in job prospects. According to Payscale reports, in early 2004, the average Investment Banking salary was USD 315,000. Ten years later the figures for the IB salary was USD 288,000. Investopedia claims the average 2015 banker’s salary was between USD 75,000 to 85,000.

Conclusions:
Both the VC and IB play important financial roles in the ecosystem of helping firms raise capital. The banks operate in the acquisitions and mergers deals, financial intermediation and capital markets while the venture capitalists invest in the equity capital of startups. Fees and interest are the main sources of earning of Investment Banking whereas the VCs returns depend on the loss or success of the firm.

Learn all about such financial markets at Imarticus Learning where careers are born and honed. Start today!

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!