Back when I wrote that Friday at 4 PM is the worst time to be an investment banker, I wasn’t joking.  Mondays and Fridays tend to be the worst because of all the last-minute surprises, though in this case my Friday surprise arrived earlier than 4 PM.

7:30 AM - Wake up late for 8:30 AM meeting with Client A.  Associate is calling to ask where I am.

8:15 AM - Arrive and Director running the deal looks upset.  Luckily, he already has all the presentations so he has nothing specific to be upset at other than me arriving 15 minutes in advance of the meeting rather than 30.

8:29 AM - As I’m about to join the meeting for Client A, I get interrupted and the Managing Director in charge of Client C (the company being sold to a group of private equity firms) wants us to speak with our Leveraged Finance team and figure out how much debt the company can take on and what the terms would be. 

The Leveraged Finance group at an investment bank is responsible for debt issuances and works on pretty much all debt/private-equity related deals.  Often the work on a Leveraged Buyout deal will be split between the M&A group (us) and Leveraged Finance and they will do more of the nitty gritty finance.  Both groups are well-versed in modeling but they focus specifically on debt, whereas the M&A group does all types of modeling.

Speak with their Analyst and figure out what materials they need from us, then get started working on a brief memo they need by the end of the day.

11 AM - Miss a call with lawyers to review Purchase Agreement for Client B (public company being sold to larger public company); VP needs me to swap some files on a USB drive quickly before a potential client leaves.  Luckily the Associate for Client B covers for me.

12 PM - At long last, we’re almost done with the materials we’re sending out for Client C.  We hold a call with them to go over everything one last time.

1 PM - Leveraged Finance calls to yell at me for not sending over enough information.  There’s often a fair amount of friction between different groups in a bank.

3 PM - Associate for Client C finally sends out materials.  I run to Starbucks with a few other Analysts to celebrate the Friday afternoon.  Discuss plans for the weekend. 

One of the best parts of the investment banking analyst job that few people ever mention is the camaraderie you develop with your fellow Analysts (and sometimes Associates and up).  It’s almost like being in college again, except you’re making a lot more money.

6 PM - Finish off materials the Leveraged Finance Analyst needs and send them over.  Almost everyone else has left the office for Happy Hour; I show up briefly but I’m really tired so head home shortly thereafter.

7 PM - Pass out.

10:30 PM - Wake up.  Meet up with some friends and head out for the night.  Mostly discuss plans for next year; some already have buyside jobs lined up, others are still looking and some just want to retire to Thailand.

3 AM - Head back to my apartment and go to sleep.

There you have it: a week in the life of an investment banking analyst.  If you read through all the entries in this series, you might notice the lack of all-nighters.  This is because I did not work on any pitches in the week described here - it was almost entirely client-related work.

If you look back at my worst day, you can see most of the pain was a result of multiple simultaneous pitches.  You should avoid these if it all possible, but you usually have to do at least a few each month (and sometimes many more than that).

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Tags: investment banker lifestyle, investment banking, investment banking analyst, M&A deals, understanding investment banking

Posted on Friday, July 11th, 2008 at 12:30 am.