Achieving a successful career in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) is no easy feat and requires an extremely high level of financial skill and business acumen. If you are working in M&A and assessing how to best develop your mergers and acquisitions career path, here are some trends that we see across the profession.
Your first 1-3 years in M&A:
Working in M&A requires you to be a financial strategist, where you will study industries to identify business opportunities for clients, assess the risk and ensure a profitable venture.
Once you have executed on two or three M&A transactions to completion, you can start building out a deals sheet that marks you out as an M&A advisor. Likelihood is that you’ve qualified as an accountant or completed your CFA.
Skills to ensure you’ve developed will include the ability to produce an IM, advising on pitch presentations, liaising with key stakeholders on the deal and building financial models, especially within an investment banking environment. This will most likely see you building DCF and LBO models alongside understanding lock box mechanisms.
3-7 years in M&A (Associate / Manager to Associate Director / Vice President)
With more experience, you will now be one of the key deal executors running the transaction. You will have Analysts and Execs supporting you on the financial analytics with you picking up the more complex facets in the deal. You will be the key point of contact to the buyer or seller and shall be in attendance with the MDs and Partners when pitching for business.
These roles will see you work closely with the CEO, CFO, or COO to identify business opportunities and assist with the execution of deals. Your role will be to oversee the rest of the team to ensure that projects are being run correctly.
Exceptional people skills are a must, alongside expert financial knowledge and strong leadership abilities.
Director / Managing Director / Partner: deal originators
Once you have mastered how to run a transaction as an M&A Lead Advisor, the question becomes how do you progress from leading a transaction to winning them. This is what firms are looking for when hiring for higher-level roles such as that of a MD or Partner.
Whether you have a buy or sell-side mandate, you will move away from executing the transactions and be focused on winning the business for your company and clients.
Being adept at finding deals and bringing clients into the business is what will set you apart in the field. While there are many different factors to progressing the ranks, being commercially minded is essential to succeed on your mergers and acquisitions career path.
1) Creating your network of businesses
Building up your contacts and cultivating long-lasting relationships with businesses is key to becoming a MD or Partner within the industry.
At the senior level your core purpose is to win mandates from clients, which means having an extensive list of business contacts (P.E / Lawyers / VCs) you can call upon.
Creating your network takes years to build but is how deals are won. If you are looking to move to a senior role then you must begin networking and building up trust with potential clients.
While these clients may not be looking to buy or sell for many years, nurturing these relationships is what is required. As this will pay off in dividends when your business contacts are looking for opportunities on both the buy and sell side and you are their first point of call.
2) Becoming a sector specialist
You may become a sector specialist very early on in your career. However, carving out a sector specialism will become more important once you become a more senior figure in an M&A team. Firms like the big four, mid-market M&A boutiques and IBs, they have sector leads and M&A teams built around each of the industries they work within. This tends to work well when pitching for business.
The best way to progress your career is deciding on your sector specialty, whether its tech, healthcare, consumer, business services etc. Picking one area to specialise in will give you industry-specific knowledge that will help to build trust with potential clients and secure better deals.
3) Building your team
Making the transition from the deal lead to deal originator will mean building out your own team to advise on the deals you win.
That is why to move up within this field you need to be a good team player, as well as demonstrating strong leadership skills within your previous role. What will set you apart is being able to not only find the right opportunities for your clients but creating a proficient team beneath you to execute on these transactions. If you are interested in finding out more expert tips on M&A careers, read our advice on how to prepare for an M&A Lead Advisory interview.
How Gambit Search can help
We are expert M&A recruitment consultants with pedigree in placing top talent across UK corporate finance and investment banking. For those looking to take the next step in your corporate finance career, our expert guidance and advice will ensure you secure your dream role to progress on your mergers and acquisitions career path.
Having cultivated relationships with leading names within M&A, we have access to the most sought-after roles within the profession.
We take the time to get to know you and understand precisely what you are looking for within your next role, expertly matching you with the best jobs on the market and providing the right advice to ensure you can build a successful career in M&A. If you are looking to take the next step in your M&A career then get in touch with our team of expert consultants now
