Client Meetings

Sunday: 12:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Monday: 7:00 a.m. - 12:30 a.m.

Tuesday: 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.



I gotta tell you about this client meeting. It was awesome. First let me tell you about Sunday.



I missed Church for the first time. Church starts at 1:00 p.m. for me and there is an earlier session at 9:00 a.m. Because I have been working a lot I haven't had time to do my laundry, AND I couldn't afford not to wash my clothes because of the whole poison oak thing. Additionally, the family I am staying with has already mentioned me leaving my laundry in the washer or dryer, so I basically have to babysit my laundry. So from 9:00-12:00 I did laundry and then I had to go into work to finish this book (Book = Deck = PowerPoint presentation) that was due by 3:00 p.m.



We didn't get the book done until 7:00 p.m. and the associate was pissed! He kept asking, "What took you guys so long? I don't get it, please help me understand why did this take so long?" This is the same AS that I mentioned earlier in my blog has been notorious for not being easy to work with. He just ripped into us. I learned somethings: (1) his approach was not inspiring. That is, the things he said did not cause us to really crank. (2) He never listened to us. So I stepped up and said some things. At one point in our meeting (there was a 1st year AS, me and an AN) we didn't have copies of the book and so he sent us to each go get a copy. As the other two walked out I said, "Can I talk to you after we are done?"



"About what?"



"Just talk, you know, get my head wrapped around things."



So after the meeting me and the AS talked and this is how our dialogue went down.



Me: "I know I am stupid summer intern and not too reliable at this point, but let me tell. I never saw the analyst or the other AS picking their nose. These guys cranked all night both Friday and Saturday. In their defense, I probably slowed them down because they had to double and triple check my numbers."



AS: "But still, okay it takes a few minutes to check numbers, but not 10 hours! Tell me what took so long. What if I would have said Friday afternoon we needed this book by Saturday night, you guys couldn't have done it!"



Me: "I will be honest. I don't know if you could pinpoint one thing that took us a really long time. The project as a whole just did take that much time. But the thing is, and I fully subscribe to this phenomenon that if you had asked us to get it to you by Saturday night, somehow we would have done it. We would have made it happen."



He calmed down a little and we discussed a few more things and then I said, "You know, I put you down to review me because I know you will give me an honest review and that's what I want. It floats around the office that you can be really tough, and also that you are the smartest banker here (and he really is I am not just saying that) and I am willing to make every effort to be on your team, because I know I will learn a lot."

Monday-- We had a client meeting at 9:00 in the morning. I had to be here at 7:15 to set up the projector and get a back-up laptop in case something went wrong. I also had to print all the documents for the meeting. It doesn't take long to do that secretary stuff, but we also have a video conference from 8:15 to 8:45 every Monday morning.

Clients roll in and it is the CFO and COO of a publicly traded company. From our team we had 2 MDs, 2 AS, 1 AN, and me. This company is struggling and has turned to us to advise them. They have a couple choices: (1) they can go-it-alone and go private. (2) They can be acquired by another company. Obviously if we as bankers can find a buyer, we will earn more money. Obviously if we find a buyer who will buy the company at a high price compared to the shares of the company we will make even more.

You could kind of tell the distress of the management team. As they presented their financials and also their operations, you could tell they wanted to be optimistic, but also didn't want to lead us on. The MDs sure know their stuff. I was impressed at how well versed the MDs were in all the current activity in the space. I was soaking it up and taking tons of notes. I knew that what they were saying would eventually end up in a book, and I was going to be working on that book.

The meeting lasted about 2 hours. After the meeting the management left and we discussed strategy and valuation and fees. Where we go from here is the MDs have to convince the Board of Directors tomorrow to go private or be bought out. If the board is on board then this transaction assuming we can find buyers, will take until about October. Most of the labor is front loaded, and where I can see the rest of my internship being spent. That is, we will be presenting, "Teasers" which are presentations used to tease and interest buyers into bidding on the company. I think what makes me laugh the most about this job is the art behind it. We just got done explaining to management how crappy their company is. Now we get to turn around and explain how awesome their company is to potential buyers.

Tuesday-- All we did all day was work on this book for the presentation tomorrow. let me explain one assignment to you that took 3-4 hours. I hate how long it takes me to find information. I had to spread a transaction comp. A transaction comp is what multiples were used when a certain merger, acquisition a "transaction" took place. Here are the field I needed in this spread: Acquirer, Target, Date Announced, Date completed, transaction amount (how much the deal cost) equity value (usually the same as the transaction amount unless debt was used as well), LTM Revenue LTM = Last twelve months, LTM EBITDA, FTM (future...) Revenue, and FTM EBITDA. EBITDA mean Earnings before interest and tax and depreciation and amortization. Seems pretty simple look in the 10Qs and 10Ks for this stuff.

Here is where the problem starts. In Feb 2008 the target company sold or divested a section of their business. So I had to go back and find out how much that company generated from that business. That is, I had to look over 200 pages for a sentence that simply said, "This portion of our business accounted for 60% of our revenue in this quarter." And, yes it was quarterly that I was looking for, not annually. Here is what I loved about the whole process. It took some thinking! But I got it. I found all the information. I always wondered in class back at school how I was ever going to remember this accounting or finance stuff, but in the moment, I knew exactly what I was looking for and it was like second nature. It is also amazing how tedious the process is. I mean, in my mind I am thinking, "lets just find out how much they made in revenue and take off 10%" No way! That would never float, you always have to consider every detail and be perfect and prove it when someone calls you on it, because they will!

I also helped out with some other things on the book and spread some more comps, but we got the book off tonight at a decent hour, 11:00.

Reviews are coming up and it will be interested to here what they think of me. I have a good feeling things will go well. I am sure there are things I need to work on. I am hoping things are transparent and clear. My biggest fear is being led into a false sense of security thinking everyone really likes me, but in the end not get the offer. I am also worried that reviews will be tough in that the market is really struggling right now. Recruiters will have to be tough, and just "okay" interns won't cut it.