Given how competitive recruiting can be, it’s important understand what good interests are to include on your private equity resume. It’s a small, often overlooked part of the resume, but absolutely has the potential to get you over the edge…
Breaking into private equity without any investment banking experience can be a challenging task. But, while investment banking might be the traditional pathway to a private equity career, it’s definitely not the only way to get there. Try Management Consulting…
It’s always tricky to know what questions to ask in a private equity interview if you’ve never actually had any private equity experience before. You want to look like you’re excited about the opportunity, but also don’t want to come…
If you’re just getting your first exposure to the world of private equity, you might have come across the term “turn” and wondered what it means. Simply put, a turn refers to a company’s EBITDA in relation to a multiple.…
What’s the deal with unitranche loans and why does private equity like them so much? Private equity is constantly on the look for innovative financing solutions to make their lives easier and eek out a couple more basis points of…
Why would you want to work in middle market private equity vs. megafund private equity? It’s a classic question that you’ll need to think through as you head into private equity recruiting. The answer is really a personal choice, and…
People frequently talk about making the move from private equity to the public markets, but there just aren’t as many resources on the reverse: how to get into private equity from a hedge fund. Private equity generally takes a longer-term…
Choosing what to wear to a private equity interview is usually one of the last steps of your prep process. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the more important. As with any professional interview, your appearance is critical in forming first…
The ‘Walk me through an LBO’ interview question is a standard part of private equity and investment banking recruiting. It’s used for early screening, to make sure you have a baseline level of knowledge to advance past the first round.…
The ‘Why Private Equity’ interview question is a right of passage for anyone prepping for private equity recruiting. While it’s a check-the-box question, there are still good answers and bad answers. And, if your answer is particularly bad, you could…
It’s no longer the case that the only way into private equity is after a two-year stint in investment banking. Private equity internships and analyst programs have opened the door for earlier transitions to the buy-side. Depending on the firm,…
Private equity firms complete LBOs across a huge array of industries, geographies, and business models. But, even with all that variation, there are a few core items that differentiate good LBO candidates. We’ve broken down the key points below, which…
We’ll cover the basics of LBO models so you’re ready for your first LBO modeling test. It’s a certainty in any private equity recruiting process, so the sooner you’re prepared, the better. This LBO will be a relatively simple model,…
Private equity interview preparation is a right of passage for first-year investment banking analysts. The launch of private equity associate recruiting begins early in the first year of analyst programs. It’s what can best be described as orderly chaos, with…
The private equity recruiting process is a mess. It’s probably one of strangest ways to hire top talent than any industry has thought up. But, unfortunately, if you’re interested in private equity you have no choice but to partake. In…
There are some private equity interview questions that you’re almost certain to get asked. Practicing case studies and LBO model tests is critical, but you also make sure you cover your bases on high-likelihood questions. Here we’ll cover the key…
Private equity analyst programs have become increasingly popular in recent years. Firms see it as a way to get a jump on the intense competition for top talent, while the top talent sees it as an opportunity to head straight…
It’s no secret that private equity professionals are well compensated, but what kind of numbers are we actually talking about? The industry is secretive and values confidentiality, so it’s often difficult to get good data. In this article we’ll break…
Private equity is one of the most competitive fields to enter, requiring candidates follow a specific pathway and execute flawlessly along the way. If you’re interested in a career in private equity, you can’t begin preparations soon enough. But if…
The paper LBO is a dreaded part of the private equity recruiting process. It’s also unfortunately one of the most common interview questions you’ll receive. But don’t worry, once you practice a few of them you’ll be cranking out LBOs…
A repo trader operates in a relatively niche corner of the money markets, principally involved in activities related to the Federal Reserve’s overnight repurchase program. Repo trading is generally slower and less intense than other trading desks. This can be…
Investment banking is notorious for being a brutal industry to work in, particularly at the junior levels. However, it’s probably equally as notorious for how well it pays and the opportunities it provides. With that, you’re probably wondering if investment…
With the popularity of the Finance Homie guide for Patrick Bateman’s hair, and with Halloween right around the corner, it only made sense to take a look at the perfect Patrick Bateman costume from American Psycho. It’s actually a pretty…
A Delta One trader sits on a bank’s Delta One trading desk, but what does this desk do? It’s one of the industry’s hottest trends post-financial crisis and has been shrouded in mystery for years. Here’s a primer on Delta…
With the advent of high-frequency trading (HFT), market making strategies have become increasingly algorithmic. Market making itself is not a new occurrence, but deployment of cutting-edge HFT technology has transformed the business. To help break things down, here’s an overview…
Exploding offers are job offers with unrealistically tight decision timelines required by the prospective employer. If interviewees don’t accept the offer within the window, it disappears (explodes). An exploding offer is the last thing you want to be faced with…
Spread duration is the sensitivity of a security’s price to changes in its credit spread. A security’s credit spread is the difference between the yield-to-maturity of the security itself and the yield of a benchmark rate (treasury or other government…
Investment banks host closing dinners for clients and the bank’s own deal team following a successful transaction. These celebratory dinners are usually swanky affairs in private dining rooms, or can even be trips such as a skiing or yachting adventure.…
The syndicate desk is a team within a sell-side investment bank that is responsible for researching, marketing, and pricing large deals across both debt and equity capital markets. It’s a product group that usually sits between the investment banking and…
Reneging on a job offer can be a stressful decision, full of unknowns and what-ifs. There’s no perfect answer, but there are a few key considerations discussed below. The short of it is that you should renege if it’s clearly…
You’ve spent a ton of time and worked hard to get an analyst spot, whether that’s in investment banking, private equity, or another finance vertical. But what comes next? Here’s an overview of the differences between the associate vs. analyst…
An unencumbered asset is an asset that is wholly-owned, free of any associated debt, liens, or claims. Conversely, an encumbered asset is an asset that does have associated liabilities or claims. Unencumbered Assets Deeper Dive Knowing that an unencumbered asset…
Both an IOI (Indication of Interest) and LOI (Letter of Intent) are bid documents in an M&A process, so what’s the difference between an IOI vs. LOI? IOIs are non-binding documents that typically come earlier in the M&A process, while…
A reverse triangular merger is a type of acquisition structure in which the acquiring company forms a new subsidiary with which to acquire the target company. The subsidiary, known as the ‘merger subsidiary’, merges with the target company, allowing the…
The concept of a synergy in the context of M&A is commonly understood to mean a situation where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts as two businesses combine. Dis-synergies (or “dissynergies”), on the other hand, refers…
There are endless resources for standard coverage and M&A investment banking, but good lists of technical fixed income interview questions are hard to come by. Here’s a curated list of questions and answers to help you prep for any entry-level…
An analysis at various prices, or AVP, is a schedule outlining implied valuation multiples across a range of purchase prices. It’s used in investment banking and private equity to help think through company valuation and purchase price, both on the…
Landing a finance internship is hype, what’s more hype is locking in the return offer. Your junior summer is all about making sure you have a full time job lined up at the end of it. Senior year gets a…
If you’ve ever watched Bloomberg TV or CNBC you’ve probably seen interviews with senior equity strategists from major banks. They mumble some words about volatility, sector weightings, yield curves, or something similar. But when they’re not making up fluff on…
Sum-of-the-parts, or SOTP, is a modeling and valuation approach frequently used by bankers and investors. This guide will provide background on the methodology, cover how to employ it yourself, and just give you a real explanation of the term if…
Rogue trading is when an employee authorized to trade on behalf of their employer begins to trade outsize the parameters of their mandate. This article provides a deep dive into rogue trading. We’ll look at how it’s done, cover one…
At its simplest, a board observer is someone who is allowed to attend and participate in board meetings, but unable to vote on board decisions. They’re not a full Director, or member of the board, but they do go to…
Finance isn’t all about transactions that end up on the front page of the Wall Street journal. Some of the more interesting aspects of the industry are kept low key. Today we take a look at one of these issues,…
So, you fell for a 10 in some deal sleds with freakishly good Excel skills? Who could blame you. Now, it’s really no secret that dating an investment banker, or dating as an investment banker, is not all that easy.…
On today’s Homie Reviews of Private Equity firms we take a look at Rubicon Technology Partners. Not really a surprise, they focus primarily on enterprise software investments. Standard check sizes are in the $75 – $350M range and target companies…
On this entry of Homie Reviews of Private Equity Firms we take a look at Mill Point Capital. Mill Point closed its debut fund in 2018, with founder Michael Duran setting up shop following thirteen years at Ripplewood Holdings. Notably,…
A Key Man clause or Key Person clause provides protections to LPs against adverse events related to the fund’s most critical leaders. A limited partner (LP) will allocate capital to a certain fund because it believes that the fund’s investment…
If you’ve spent any time working with or reading about companies going through venture rounds or IPOs you’ve probably come across the concept of pre- vs. post-money valuation. It’s important to distinguish between the two and here’s a quick guide…
Building out the balance sheet is probably one of the most annoying parts of modeling. It usually comes last in a three statement model and isn’t a driver like the income statement, so I don’t particularly enjoy it. That said,…
You’ve probably heard of EBITDA before, but perhaps you’ve come across EBIAT (Earnings Before Interest After Taxes) for the first time. It’s a similar metric, but ignores a company’s capital structure while allowing for tax comparison (without the tax benefit…
