M&A Pitch: A Brief

Guide (+ Example)

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 Table of Contents
Introduction .............................................................................................................................4
How do you find interesting deals? ....................................................................................4
What is the best structure to use to pitch an M&A deal? ..............................................5
Once you’ve found a deal, what is a good research process to build a high-quality
M&A pitch on this deal? ........................................................................................................7
How many deal pitches should you prepare? ..................................................................7
Can you give me an example of M&A deal pitch? ..........................................................8
A Word From Me................................................................................................................... 11
Here’s What Our Clients Think Of Our Course............................................................... 12

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 Disclaimer

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of this document.

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 Introduction

A very common question during IB interviews you’ll get is:

“Can you tell me about a recent deal?”

This question is especially important, as IB professionals will have an

opportunity to test both your interest in the space (and determine if you’re
“faking it” or not) and your ability to form intelligent views on recent deals.

It is also relatively complex to prepare. Unlike fit questions and most technical
questions which can be prepared with minimal research (as long as you have
access to the right network and courses), M&A deal “pitches” require you to
perform research on multiple aspects of the deal to build a compelling
analysis.

Due to the relative complexity of this task and the importance of mastering
this exercise during interviews, I decided to create a separate lesson dedicated
to showing you how to build proper M&A deal pitches that will leave a strong
impression on bankers.

How do you find interesting deals?

First, where do you start looking? How do you find interesting deals to talk
about?

Assuming you don’t have access to Bloomberg or FactSet, a quick and easy
way to find a selection of deals is to Google “recent M&A deals”. Google will
bring up several articles and reports from various sources, giving you plenty
of ideas for recent M&A deals.

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 To choose a deal, I have two main recommendations:

1. Read the summaries of 10-15 deals. Shortlist 2-3 deals that

genuinely interest you (it can be because of the industry in which the
deal happened, the deal rationale, the implications for the consumer,
or anything else that captures your sincere interest). I’m advising you
to take this step to ensure that when you pitch that deal, you sound
genuinely enthusiastic about it – as opposed to doing it just because
you have to.

2. Eliminate the deals in your shortlist that have a value lower than
$5 billion. Why? Because below this threshold, you are unlikely to find
enough quality data to feed your analysis, in my experience. The bigger
the deal, the more abundant the publicly available data. If only one
deal in your shortlist has a value higher than $5bn, pick this one for
your pitch. If all your shortlisted deals have a value higher than $5bn,
read more about each of these deals, and simply pick the one that you
find the most interesting (which is entirely arbitrary).

What is the best structure to use to pitch an M&A

deal?

I recommend the following structure to pitch an M&A deal:

1. Provide key background information about each company involved

in the deal and the deal itself (briefly explain what they do, how much
revenue they make, nature and amount of the transaction)

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 2. Explain the deal rationale. Briefly explain why the buyer wanted to
acquire the seller, and what the strategic considerations behind the
deal are. Basically, your goal here is to show that the deal made sense
for both parties involved. Remain brief, as this is not the most
important part of the pitch.

3. Provide technical details about the deal structure, multiple and

valuation. Here, you want to talk about the deal multiple at which the
target was acquired (what is acquired at a premium or a discount?),
and give your view on whether this multiple is high or low considering
industry valuation norms, the target’s revenue, the benefits it brings to
the buyer, or other factors you may find relevant. Note that deal
multiples vary across industries. If no specific multiple is provided in
press releases and deal reports, you’ll have to check what the most
relevant multiples are in the industry in which this deal occurred. Don’t
go overboard here. Save some time for the final part of the analysis,
which is the most important.

4. Give your personal analysis of the deal. If you think the deal will be
beneficial for both parties involved, explain why. If not, give several
reasons as well. The more contrarian you are in your analysis, the
better. Bankers appreciate candidates who can think against the
consensus by sharing original and analytically sound opinions. Overall,
your analysis needs to be intelligent, catchy, and original. Don’t use
overly complicated words just to sound smart. Aim for maximum clarity
and analytical precision.

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 Once you’ve found a deal, what is a good
research process to build a high-quality M&A
pitch on this deal?

Researching all the information you need to build a pitch is the most complex
part, the one that requires the greatest amount of work and investigation.

There is no perfect process to find this data. You already know what types of
insights you need to include in your pitch thanks to the structure I shared with
you above. Now, use Google and other tools at your disposition to find this
data, which may or may not be publicly available, depending on the deal.

For the key background information, you can find it easily by looking at
company press releases or articles from Reuters/Financial Times covering the
deal.

Press articles talking about the deal should also give you enough raw material
to explain the deal’s rationale.

For the valuation multiples, it’s trickier. This data is not always available. If you
can’t find it online, you will have to 1) find a relevant valuation multiple for the
transaction by looking at comparable transactions 2) look at the target
company’s financial statements to obtain the data you need, and calculate the
implied multiple using the deal value.

For the personal analysis part, the possibilities are endless. There is no perfect
way to do it. Just do your research, form a quality opinion, and do your best
to say something smart and sensible.

How many deal pitches should you prepare?

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 As you can guess by now, preparing a deal pitch can be a very time
consuming process. It can take you 4-5 hours or even more, depending on
how much data you have and depth of your analysis.

Since you also need to allocate time to other aspects of your interview
preparation, I recommend preparing at least 2-3 excellent pitches for your
interviews.

If you have time to create more, feel free to do so. Bear in mind, however, that
the opportunity cost of preparing loads of pitches can be high, especially if
you’re not fully ready on other critical aspects of your interview preparation
(e.g., fit questions, financial literacy, valuation, etc.).

How long should these pitches be?

2-3 minutes. Do not exceed 3 minutes. Be ready to pitch your deals in one
minute in case your interviewer wants a very quick version.

Can you give me an example of M&A deal pitch?

Here’s an example of a deal pitch talking about the $20bn acquisition of

Figma by Adobe in 2023.

PITCH EXAMPLE:

"One acquisition that captured my attention recently was Adobe's $20 billion
acquisition of Figma.

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 Adobe is one of the most prominent computer software in the world, generating
over $16 billion of revenue. In September 2022, the company announced its
plans to acquire Figma, a web-based collaborative platform used by tech giants
such as Airbnb, Zoom, and Coinbase. This acquisition was the largest buyout of
a private software startup to date.

The strategic move was twofold. First, Adobe sought to bolster its cloud software
technology by leveraging Figma's expertise in web-based multiplayer
functionalities, allowing Adobe's Creative Cloud technologies to thrive in
browser environments while promoting multi-user collaboration.

Second, by bringing Figma under its wing, Adobe could not only absorb a vast
user base – nearly 4 million users – but also neutralize a potent competitor
threatening its flagship UX design product, Adobe XD.

An interesting point about this deal is the seemingly high price tag Adobe was
willing to pay for the acquisition of their rival. Just one year earlier before the
deal, Figma was valued at $10 billion, half as much as the $20bn offer made by
Adobe. Investor skepticism led to a 17% drop in Adobe's stock post-
announcement, given they were paying 11% of their market value for a mere
2.8% increase in ARR.

While the acquisition multiple of about 50x Figma's 2022 ARR is high, it's not
wholly unprecedented in the tech sector, as seen with Twitter's IPO, and could
be justified by the strategic benefits Adobe seeks.

In the long-term, there are clear strategic synergies for Adobe that may justify
the heavy price they paid for this operation. Thanks to Figma, Adobe can
expand its creative app portfolio and potentially tap into a market segment it
historically overlooked, the non-enterprise/less-technical user base.

In my view, Adobe's valuation of Figma at $20 billion, while on the higher side,
could be justified in the broader context of strategic alignment, competitive
positioning, and potential future market expansion. However, the integration's
execution and Adobe's ability to leverage Figma's potential will determine if this
acquisition turns out to be a sound investment.

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 This acquisition shows that tech giants are ready to make aggressive offers with
premium pricing when they feel that their technological dominance is
threatened by rising competitors.”

IMPORTANT NOTE: This pitch is an example of what you could say during an
interview to make a strong impression. While I encourage you to take
inspiration from this pitch to build your own, I’d advise you not to use this
one. The point of this exercise is to help you form your own opinion about
specific M&A deals that occurred recently, and to show to recruiters that you
actually “walk the talk”. If you blindly copy and paste a pitch you’ve seen
elsewhere, interviewers will be able to tell if you didn’t do your research, and
you won’t be able to answer follow-up questions (and you can be almost
certain to have some). So make sure to find your own deals and build your
own pitches to ensure you come as prepared as possible for your interviews.

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 A Word From Me
This short guide was made to give you some insights on how to prepare a good
M&A pitch, which will help you for your interviews. If you liked this content, you will
love our flagship course "The Investment Banking Blueprint".

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