|
Name:
Stephen Davies
Age: 30
Qualifications: BCom (Melbourne University); BSc (Melbourne Univeristy); Grad. Dip. App. Fin. (FINSIA)
Position: Associate, Investment Banking
Employer: Merrill Lynch
Investment banking is a generic term encompassing a lot of different functions. Primarily, I am involved in Merrill Lynch’s Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) team, and undertake financial and market analysis as well as preparing pitch and transaction documents as part of executing transactions such as takeovers, acquisitions and divestments, Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) or capital management initiatives. In itself this involves a variety of roles as described in ‘Day in the life’.
What do you like about your job?
- Diversity of work—there is no such thing as a routine day!
- Calibre of people within the Merrill Lynch network, and regular opportunities to work with new people.
- Variety of clients across different industries, with different backgrounds and experience.
- Ongoing intellectual stimulation from being presented with new tasks and challenges.
- Very meritocratic environment, providing reward for hard work and performance.
- Opportunities for on-the-job training and ongoing skills development.
- Being part of a global organisation and opportunities for global exposure.
What do you dislike about your job?
Client expectations are high and as such hours can be demanding—maintaining a work-life balance is a challenge, but is manageable over the longer term.
In your opinion, are jobs in your field easy/difficult to come by?
Jobs at the graduate level in investment banking are difficult to come by. There are only a few positions available across the investment banks, boutique advisory firms and corporate finance divisions of the ‘Big 4’ chartered accounting firms and these spots are highly sought after. This tends to create a competitive recruitment process.
Investment banks also set high hurdles. The job is academically challenging, and requires significant knowledge and ‘savvy’, often accumulated outside the lecture theatre / seminar room. Often double degree or honours students and those with extracurricular responsibilities are better credentialed.
What are your longer term career goals? Where do you see yourself in five, and ten years?
Over the short term, I would like to spend one to two years working in one of our overseas offices to gain a broader perspective and work with different members of Merrill Lynch’s global team. Investment banking is about experience and this is what clients pay for. Deal flow and exposure to clients at my level is critical for longer term success.
My longer term career goals definitely involve continued advisory / consulting work. The diversity of work offered in an external advisory environment will be important in keeping me interested and motivated. If within 10 years I can attain Managing Director level at Merrill Lynch, I would be ecstatic!
A day in the life
There is really no such thing as a ‘typical day’ in investment banking.
My day would typically begin by reading the financial press, reviewing and actioning any emails arriving overnight, and looking at any new announcements for target clients. From that point, there is not a lot of structure.
As a guide, the sorts of tasks that I could be required to undertake on a day-to-day basis include:
-
Financial / valuation analysis
o financial modelling (P&L, cash flow forecasting)
o discounted cash flow / comparable pricing analysis
o leveraged buy out analysis
o transaction impact analysis
-
Market / industry and company research
o review and distillation of company reports, research, industry information or legislation
-
Compilation of transaction pitches, reports to clients or board presentations
o pitch or proposal documents
o reports on transaction process to clients
o investor briefings
-
Preparation of transaction documents
o information memorandum / sales briefs
o prospectus / public disclosure statements
-
Structuring analysis
o credit metrics
o funding sources and uses
-
Due diligence review / data room review or preparation
o preparation or review of company documents as support to transaction documents, financial or valuation analysis
Back to top
|
