Why Private Equity?

So you’ve made it through your first 6 months in banking alive. Your waist is bigger from all those tiramisu desserts, but luckily your bank account has gotten even fatter than your stomach.

And your bank account is set to get even fatter in the future – if you can successfully break into private equity.

While you know about the case studies and modeling tests you’ll get and the deals you’ll have to discuss, you haven’t put any thought into the “Why private equity?” question.

Which is a problem – because the last thing PE guys want is a banker or consultant who wants to do PE simply because he/she hates banking or consulting or because everyone else doing it.

Investment Banking Fairness Opinions: Profitable and Prestigious, or Glamorless Gruntwork?

“Morgan Stanley is acting as financial advisor to the buyer and Credit Suisse is acting as financial advisor to the seller, with the fairness opinion provided by Houlihan Lokey.”

So we’ve been over this “financial advisor to the buyer and seller” stuff before, but what about that fairness opinion bit?

You always see sentences like the one above at the bottom of deal announcement press releases – so what is this mysterious “fairness opinion,” why does it matter, and what should you do when your VP calls you at 2 AM and asks you to help out with one?

Investment Banking: South Africa Edition

While everyone knows about emerging markets like China, India, and the Middle East, there’s not as much awareness of South Africa.

But it would be a mistake to ignore it, because it’s an interesting market in its own right – and it’s quite a bit different from anywhere else in the world.

So let’s get started.