Tl;dr: Part of a collection of real examples of M&A investment banking slides. This blog covers Company Overview examples. See the PowerPoint presentations investment bankers are paid millions for. No matter your job, or your aspirations, you can learn from these slides.
This is part of a collection of 67 free M&A presentations from the top 20 banks (based on ranking, and also the quality of presentation for you to learn from).
Collection of M&A slide examples
The main page for all the M&A resources is here.
I have broken out 827 examples of slides across 32 sections. You can click through to the section you want to learn about next here:
Is this blog for you?
Why the heck should you care? Investment banks (historically) attracted the best and the brightest.
- Slide structure/design: Learn how complicated concepts are structured and designed in PowerPoint
- Analysis approach: See exactly how complex financial methods are presented
- Strategy and communication: M&A deals are not (normally, other than many Duff and Phelps decks) cookie cutter. There’s a host of topics that need to be dealt with
- Morbid interest: I used to do this for a living, but it’s still interesting to see how PPT are made… but then maybe it’s just me and so FML 😉
Who this will help:
- You want to work in banking: There’s a lot of applicants. Knowing the job helps you answer questions
- You work in banking: Even if you’re an MD, you need to know how the best are structuring their thoughts/analysis
- You write presentations: You can’t buy learnings like this. You can learn from the slides
- You have a curious mind: Good for you
About Company Overview slides
We are in no bed and go easy on the butter territory for Analysts now.
Very simply, company overview slides are like Tinder profiles. They say just enough to know whether you are interested, or not (in most cases).
When you are doing coverage, you’ll absolutely spend a tonne of time writing company overviews which are typically 2 pages, some times 4 (the constraint is what is publicly available), and are only more extensive if:
- You’re doing an interloper analysis (Competitive deal- who the heck is also in the round?!)
- You’re doing a deep dive for an acquisition which can be a managed process or unsolicited
Why these slides are made
Why do you get told to make these slides then?:
- Show that you know about everyone in the industry
- Educate clients, but really you’re trying to see if you can sell them on a deal
- Show you are doing lots of work for the client so they 1/ hire you, 2/ feel they are getting their money’s worth
- Train analysts about an industry (it’s not a goal, it’s a side effect)
Comments on making these slides
It’s base monkey work
In terms of hard stuff, this is like coloring in time at a Kindergarten. If you can’t write company profiles, your career is not looking bright.
They can get complicated
If you’re on the sell-side in a process with an IM, you have a lot of information. The issue is the volume. When you first get an IM the first presentation you will do is on your initial thoughts. This is like company profile++.
Mainly dealing with public info
Especially when you are doing coverage monkey decks, you’re only going to spend a limited amount of time making slides. The real issue is that you’re working with public information. Think of it as me telling you “get me some intel on google, facebook, snap, bla, bla, bla”. You don’t know Mark, Evan etc, so you have what is publicly available. That’s great for public companies with 10Ks, but good luck when you’re talking private companies. And frequently you’re talking private companies, so there is very little around.
Examples of Company Overview
These are a very random bunch of Company Overview slides. I didn’t overthink these, nor did I try and show consistency. You always have varying levels of information to work with, so you do the best you can with it. All you’re trying to do is:
- Find the most salient points
- Ensure your boss doesn’t look dumb
Want to learn more about investment banking presentations?
Want easy access to knowledge?
- Basic: Want to get a convenient file of all the 67 presentations? Get it here
- Premium: If you would love to learn more, you can buy an Excel with 374 presentations. Get it here
- Pro: For uber-nerds, you can buy a complete index of 3,490 rows of filings back to 2001. Get it here
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