Interview prep tips, M&A analyst with Oil and energy company

Ok, if i have an interview, i was told it would be a short interview by the way, with an oil and energy company for an M&A analyst position and these are the tasks of the job: As an analyst in our M&A department you will be part of the processes regarding mergers and acquisitions. Your tasks will include: Preparation of material, presentations etc. to our decision making bodies Due dilligence Preparation of presentations for external and internal use Input to strategic analyses and valuation analyses Coordination of processes, i.a. with external advisors What can I read up on, on the net to learn some stuff I may need to know before hand. I would look over my CFA level 1 book on DCF etc, but i dont have that with me. So any tips would be really great thanks all.

This is fairly similar to my current position. Not sure what to tell you for the interview but I’m doubting it will be similar to an ER/IB interview. They will not likely ask you how to calculate a WACC or what are the components of Black-Scholes or walk me through a DCF calculation etc. Make sure you know the oil and gas and energy industry and the current events surrounding it. As long as you have some experience with modeling and presentation building you should be fine. They can teach you everything else. As for the job description, you will be creating internal pitch books on potential acquisitions, helping to evaluate potential acquisitions, helping to create/update merger models and target screening models etc. Good luck.

Yeh my modelling skills are long forgotten. Havent done anything like that really since university days. Any links where i could read up on it a bit?

Is this the 5th or the 6th thread you have started on this topic?

I would recommend looking at historical M&A transactions in the energy industry to get a feel for what metrics are used and what to look for.

ok thanks. secondly since you seem to know a bit kcin, is it common for m&a analysts working for corporates to transfer over to IBanking ever, or possibly big4 Transaction services?

Sure it is possible depending on how good you are and how much experience you get. Basically this job is a mix between ER and IB. You do most of the same things just work fewer hours generally. Also you won’t be working on as many different types of deals like your typical IB, but you will have more industry specific experience. You perform both buy side and sell side functions.

Sounds fantastic. Energy is also a great industry to get specific experience in I think, particularly renewables in this day and age which this company is heavily involved in. Got my contract offer for my big 4 job coming to me on thursday. So I really dont know how Im going to work it if I did get this m&a job, especially since I had told them I would be signing and I was very excited about getting the job. Any tips? I dont wanna get a bad name here for reneging!

don’t even think about reneging (or showing doubts) until you have a solid offer letter in hand for the other job. competition is likley to be fierce for M&A job, given IB environment.

yes thanks gecco, certainly would not until that is the case. Luckily in the country where I am there really arent that many big investment banks. Plus I really dont think that finance people are seen as the kings they are, as in many other countries. Don’t know why, maybe because the income curve is a lot flatter here.

Well went to the interview today. Went ok. was in the interview first with a senior then the director came in a bit later, he was a bit of a hard ass. Anyway the job isnt exactly what i thought it would be, calling it an m&a analyst position is a tad deceiving. Its more of a project management role. YOu dont really build any of the models, although you do have to understand them and what not. Its all done by the investment banks and the corporate finance team. The role is more just liasing with all the advisers (accountants, ibanks, lawyers etc) to bring together a deal, and to pitch it to management as well etc. Sounds like a pretty good role and even though a bit different I think its great to learn about a very exciting industry. I dont think i will get much further though as they have many candidates I believe and everyone here has masters degrees etc, and im sure quite a few internationals who have worked in corp finance will be applying after the recent layoffs here in europe. Still will see where it goes. Not too fussed as I got my contract for my other offer today, and I am so happy with it, can’t believe how good the salary is!!!

does a “flatter income curve” refer to Sweden or Tibet?