"The Pulse" --#32

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SA 2025 interview szn is HERE! Don’t fall behind your competition by wasting time tracking applications.

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Recruiting Timeline:

Banking:

Where We’re At:  

• SA 2025: Piper Sandler, Brentwood Capital Advisors, and AGC Partners all opened applications this week. Wells Fargo also opened applications for all locations. So far ~19 banks have opened applications. February will be a HUGE month for interviewing, all aspects of your interview prep should be sharp at this point. Please reach out if you’re looking for mock interviews or any coaching!

• FT 2024: FT 2024 recruiting is over. This is our last post tracking this timeline

Newly Released Applications:

• Piper Sandler: Solid boutique, app open for Houston only (SA 2025)

• Brentwood Capital Advisors: Very small boutique in Nashville (SA 2025)

• AGC Partners: Boutique, tech focus (SA 2025)

See below to gain access to our premium database, updated weekly, which houses the application processes for over 200+ banks/consulting/buyside firms! Gain an edge over everyone else by not having to spend countless hours tracking applications and deadlines.

Consulting:

Where We’re At:

• SA 2025: This process is moving along faster than we anticipated and apps are opening much earlier than last year. Three firms have released applications including the Women's program for PWC. This means their generic application will be released in the next few weeks and other Big 4 firms will follow suit. We anticipate MBB apps being released in the early spring

• FT 2024: On cycle FT hiring is over aside from any very small firms trying to fill an associate consultant position or larger firms deciding they underhired (Three FT positions are listed below, so jump on them if you don't have a position lined up)

SA 2025 released apps:

• PWC: Management Consulting Intern - Women's Consulting Experience (SA 2025).

• Curtis & Co: Boutique firm (SA 2025)

• Protiviti: Tech Consulting (SA 2025)

FT Released Apps:

• KCIC: Boutique firm (FT)

• Lake Partners Strategy Consultants: Boutique firm (FT)

• FTI Consulting: Tech Consulting (FT)

Apply ASAP if you’re interested!

Buyside:

Where We’re At:

SA 2025: Ares, Stone Point, and Sculptor Capital Management all opened SA 2025 apps this week. So far ~16 buyside shops have opened applications, with many firms positioned to begin interviews in February

Released apps:

• Ares: Large fund with a credit focus (SA 2025)

• Stone Point: Solid fund with a financial services focus (SA 2025)

• Sculptor Capital Management: Fund focused on real estate (Summer 2025)

Premium Database:

The database is updated weekly and contains 200+ Investment Banking and Consulting internships/full-time positions along with:

• Interview tips for specific companies

• Interview prep material

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• Professionals to network with

• Buyside deadlines, interview prep, and people to network with for the sweatiest of students

We send the updated dataset every week with the latest banking and consulting job postings. We released our 32nd update today.

Students we have been helping have already landed roles at Blackstone, Goldman, J.P. Morgan, Jefferies, Citi, and Solomon.

To get access to the database and the weekly updates, you pay a one-time fee of $50 (Venmo @Hooshelpers) that grants you annual access to the updated database (You can enable purchase protection if concerned). If you don’t find our services helpful, we simply ask for feedback on an area we can improve upon and will refund your $50.

This is a small investment for a huge payout when you secure your dream offer!

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Market Update:

2024 Deal Flow

2022 was slow and 2023 was equally shitty for global deal volume across M&A, debt financings, and IPOs. Essentially, turbulent markets make for tough deal making as companies are reluctant to pursue new strategic initiatives and funds are scared to deploy capital.

However, things have been looking up. The markets are ripping (gracing ATHs), employment data remains strong, and inflation is settling. All of this supports the case for a busy 2024.

The Pulse rationale for strong deal volume in 2024:

1. Rates cuts are projected (~75 bps in 2H24). See "The Pulse" --#28 for our timely discussion of why cuts will happen

   Everyone loves rate cuts because debt becomes cheaper. Cheap debt means stronger cash flows for most companies and a greater willingness to pursue strategic initiatives (capex, leasing, inventory purchasing, etc). Today, SOFR is ~525bps which means the average cost of a common debt instrument, like a revolver, is priced at S + 100bps. Paying 6% on a revolver sucks. Everything else (bonds, loans, convertibles, etc) are only MORE expensive, which makes debt financing difficult in this environment.

   Also, from a technical standpoint, rate cuts directly reduce a company’s WACC. The cost of debt will fall which makes projects more feasible when running a financial model.

2. Investment managers have mad dry powder. The big dawgs over at shops like KKR, Apollo, and Ares are sitting on a huge mountain of cash which has been virtually undeployable over the past two years (these guys are prolly really happy to just sit around and clip 2% management fees tbh)

   These investors are mostly former bankers and bankers love to do deals. Plus, many funds have clauses within their LPAs stating that they need to invest funds by a certain period, or else they will have to return all capital to investors. On the flip side, most funds are not evergreen vehicles and have a certain lifetime where investors NEED to return capital to LPs by a certain date —requiring them to sell assets.

   Mix these attributes together and you get a mean deal-fueled jungle juice ready for 2024.

3. Markets are ripping which can make equity “cheap.” When stocks are flying, P/E multiples often rise which means investors are placing a higher value to hold $1 of a company’s earnings. Ultimately, a company’s stock may start trading at a premium to its true value. So, facilitating M&A using equity or raising capital through an IPO (as mentioned in "The Pulse" --#31) may be attractive for some companies

4. Behavioral excitement. Many successful people are hard-wired to take action to solve problems. There is no exception regarding dealmaking.

   These people are itching to go to market and make a deal happen after being frozen out of action over the last two years. It’s the same principle as people who run during a blizzard, may not be the best time for a run, but they just can’t wait 2-3 months to get their fix.

For an interview, be prepared for deal-related questions. Thankfully, volume has been picking up across the board so be sure to walk into an interview with knowledge of at least 1 recent deal.

Disclosure: Nothing written here is financial advice or should be used for investment decisions.

Acquisition Financing: Cash vs. debt vs. equity

There is no ‘right way’ to buy another company, in fact a blend of the 3 forms of capital is often used to facilitate any type of M&A.

When to use cash:

1. When a company is very liquid (cash + other liquid assets) / total assets

2. When the investment will likely yield a higher return than the foregone interest on cash (today cash can be invested in T-Bills or a high-yield savings account for ~5% annual return)

3. The seller is willing to sell the asset at a discount in exchange for all cash

4. Avoid dilution of your own shares

When to use debt:

1. The combined entity has recurring, stable cash flows to service debt payments

2. The buyer doesn’t want to risk all of their own capital, but still wants complete ownership

3. When the investment will yield a higher return than the cost of debt 

When to use equity:

1. Your own equity is trading at a premium to its intrinsic value

2. The merged entity cannot service debt repayments

3. There will be manageable levels of share dilution

4. The seller wants to share in the upside of the merged entity

Moral of the story, a buyer strives to use the ‘cheapest’ form of capital to finance an acquisition. By nature, the cost of equity is always greater than the cost of debt and the foregone interest on cash. However, the cost of equity is a non-cash consideration which makes it a very unique form of financing.

Going Forward:

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“The Pulse” #32