A firm that wants to buy/merge with another to create a new firm or acquire a few or all of its assets will consider the process of Mergers and Acquisitions.

1. Essential Aspects to
Know About M & A
Investment Banking
Nov 22, 2022| Article
Most corporate name changes are the result of mergers and
acquisitions. But these tend to be unimaginative.
- James Surowiecki
Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) are usually high-value and greater stakes
transactions with a lot present. The process of M&A is intensive. The process will
alter based on the size, complexity, and kind of M&A deal. The words "mergers"
and "acquisitions" are usually interchangeable, but they vary in meaning. They
refer to the consolidation of organizations or their high business assets with
financial transactions among the organizations. An organization will buy and
absorb another organization outright, merge with it into making a new firm,
acquire a few or all of its major assets, give atender offerfor its stock, or create
a hostile takeover. All of these fall under M&A activities.
Overview of M & A in Investment Banking
The role of investment bankers in cracking the M&A deals is to suggest other
firms and execute the transactions where the business owners keep on selling
their business to buyers, obtain smaller targets, and divest or get certain
divisions or assets from other firms. They execute sell-side and buy-side deals of
M&A.
In other terms, investment banking (IB) is the industry that fuels the engines of
M&A. The merger of two or more firms via M&A is a process, which is quite
complicated as there are a lot of areas that are moving. It demands certain
expertise in fields like valuations, capital raising, communication with investors,
deal negotiations, and many more.
Investment banking professionals make sure to gain enough specialization in all
of these fields, enabling them to act as intermediaries for firms that want to get
or merge with other firms.
M&A group in investment banking
The US investment banking industry is estimated to be the home to around 3,000
firms, earning about $140 billion. It is massive and has a great role in the biggest
transactions that take place across every other industry.
M&A is the main subset of IB. Where most of the 3,000 investment banks in the US
function with M&A process and capital raising. However, the investment banks
offer a diversified service scope, which consists of:
Underwriting for IPOs.
Sales & Trading
Equity & industry research
Advisory services
Investment Banking Mergers and Acquisitions
Process
The M&A process possess the ability to reshape firms and their industries like no
other corporate action. In any M&A process, obtaining the right timelines is very
CIBP™ Standards Examination Resources Partner IBCA  myIBCA  



G
e
t
S
t
ar
t
e
d

2. essential. Larger deals may not mean more time but might require more
resources.
Let's have a closer look at the M&A process from the investment bankers
perspective:
Build an acquisition or exit strategy - The M&A criteria, analysis of trends, and
appropriate targets as well as the acquirers. This can be done for a certain
organization, or the investment bankers may start the process and then reach out to
prospective buyers/sellers.
Connect to the buyer or seller - The investment banking professionals usually work
with Corporate Development to get through gatekeepers and start a fruitful
conversation with the C-suite executives or with the business owners on the
opposite side of the deal.
Perform a valuation analysis - Once a connection has been done among the
organizations and both parties have chosen to continue down the M&A path, they will
continue to review the prospective targets.
Start the negotiations - If working for the buy-side, they will help the buyer to
develop as well as deliver an appropriate offer.
Assistance with diligence - During diligence, the investment bankers continue to dig
deeply into the financials and usually serve as one of the great sources of
communication between the buy-side and the sell-side.
Settling of the final terms - They are majorly responsible for negotiating the final
terms of a deal.
Role of Investment Banking Professionals in M&A
Based on the previous section we can clearly understand that investment
bankers make sure that the deals happen. The top leaders of any organization
often have at least a shortlist of organizations that interest them.
However, to convert them into deals, they are required to hire professionals, who
are keen to grow in their investment banking career that have a cerctain set of
skillsets needed for cracking the deals.This gives them to get the maximum
value from the work they perform as part of their mandate from the
organization.
The roles professionals take for M & A investment banking are too many. Some of
them are:
G
e
t
S
t
ar
t
e
d

3. Giving industry overviews Giving overall information related to the industry is the job
of IB, and also informs the decision about which organizations are most relevant for
the process of M&A. For instance, the retail industry, it’s about the scramble for e-
commerce. The oil and gas industry, it’s all related to the energy transition.
Deal origination Investment bankers initially find the organizations, which are suitable
and attractive, and then narrow this down to the organizations that can be either
acquired or merged with.
Valuation of the firms Valuing the firms, public and private, is the basic need of IB. It
will often build a valuation with the help of a complex financial model that considers
the account of all of the target firm’s current and projected financial results. The
investment bank’s responsibility is to give proper suggestions to the firm on any
deviations from this valuation.
Negotiation The investment banking professionals act as the intermediary, so from
their side, they are sure about the transaction of some form, and want to be
transparent about it. If this leads to some form of negotiation, they will be considered
to help their client in the process.
Due Diligence The expertise that investment banking career offers will be highly
useful to be an active intermediary on dozens of deals. This also makes them have
far more potential of knowing the aspects to seek out at the due diligence step
comparatively than the average business owner. The IB also has its legal team to
take care of regulatory and compliance aspects that are relevant to the deal.
Deal Closing Deal closing is not an easy task like signing on a document and walking
away with the ownership of a firm. It consists of a careful final assessment of all the
terms and conditions involved and accounting for contingencies. Investment
banking professionals are more potent when compared to the standard business
owner in ensuring that nothing is missed while closing any deal.
Post Merger Integration Post Merger Integration (PMI) or simply ‘integration’ is
something that adds or destroys the value that happens after the transaction has
closed. The larger consulting industry has built the playbook, which enables them to
advise firms on the integration, of the newly acquired firms into their own.
Investment Banking Career
Investment banking is the perfect career choice for professionals who are
seeking a growing job profile and the benefits that come along with it, such as
compensation. With so high financial rewards, it is not a surprise that careers in IB
are the most coveted of all jobs. A professional often spends between 2 to over
5 years as an analyst, sometimes earning close to USD 200,000.
Salaries are one of the top post-MBA career options, in the US, the average
starting base salary for analysts is between USD 75,000 to USD 96,000 per annum.
If one considers other perks like bonuses, signing, and stub bonus earnings, these
can be around USD 150,000 or more, also for first-year analysts.
Apart from, great salaries and bonuses, an investment banking career also offers
perks like vacation, health insurance, profit-sharing, and retirement packages.
Entry-level analysts in IB often take care of excel and PowerPoint work, track
buying and selling, handle the documentation, and correspond with clients. The
G
e
t
S
t
ar
t
e
d

4. progression of the career from an analyst to a managing director often takes
more than 12 years.
The table below gives the career progression in the IB industry if an individual
passes all the standards by excelling in their performance.
From To Average Period
Analyst Associate Associate
Associate (typically MBA) Vice President 3 years
Vice President Senior Vice President 3-4 years
Senior Vice President Managing Director 2-3 years
However, USA and UK are housing the top banking companies like JPMorgan
Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citi, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and more, which pay
the highest salaries in the industry. Others like India and Canada consist of a
smaller industry and pay lesser than the USA and UK.
Summing up
The least preparation period of any M&A transaction is 2 to 3 months if there are
no substantial alterations to the sell-side business or its reporting structure. If
there are then both internal and external advisors may require 6 months or longer
for deal preparation. Once the deal moves, the IB plays an active role in the
negotiation of the terms of the deal.
Stay Informed!
Keep up with the latest in Investment banking with the IBCA newsletter.
Subscribe
CIBP™
Learning Resources
Candidacy Tracks
How To Apply
CIBP™ Exam
Continuation Policy
Digital Badge
EXAMINATION
Examinee Testing
Policies
Examinee ID Policy
Audit Policy
Exam Development
Exam Security
PARTNER IBCA
Universities & Business
Schools
STANDARDS
RESOURCES
FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS 2802 Flintrock Trace
Austin, TX 78738
info@ibca.us.org
Follow Us
  
All activities related to the management of customer relationships, customer-support, credentialing logistics, partner-network,
invoicing for IBCA, are managed by the Edvantic worldwide network. All queries may be safely directed to info@ibca.us.org.
Disclaimer: +
© 2022. INVESTMENT BANKING COUNCIL OF AMERICA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRIVACY POLICY TERMS OF USE SITEMAP
G
e
t
S
t
ar
t
e
d