What is the Bond Investment Group Investment Banking Competition?
The Bond Investment Group Investment Banking Competition (the IB Competition for short) aims to prepare students for the final stages of the intensive recruitment process in many investment banks. This recruitment process is often four or five stages long! It typically consists of in depth analysis of one’s resume and cover letter, on-line testing, phone interviews, group assessments and finally individual panel interviews with several executives.
The IB Competition aims to specifically prepare students for the group assessment component of this recruitment process. During this stage, groups of applicants are often given a ‘problem document’ which contains financial and strategic information on a large listed company as well as some smaller listed companies that present potential acquisition targets. Groups of applicants will be given a limited time to develop a pitch which they must then present to the board of directors of the large listed company; this pitch should contain recommendations in relation to which company the larger company should seek to acquire and why.
The concept behind the IB Competition is very similar – contestants will be given a problem document that contains information on both a large listed Australian company and several smaller listed Australian companies which present potential acquisition targets. Each group will have to present both strategic and fundamental arguments to a panel of judges (which represent the board of directors of the large listed Australian company) to demonstrate why the larger firm should seek to acquire one of the smaller firms.
How is it that the IB Competition will work?
Teams will comprise of three students and teams will be given their problem documents two hours before they are due to present. All of the information that teams will require will be contained in the problem documents. Each team is permitted to use laptop computers to perform calculations and create a PowerPoint presentation. Each team will be given 10 minutes to pitch their case to the panel of judges. This will be followed by 5 minutes of question time in which the panel of judges will have an opportunity to assess how well teams are able to justify their opinions. Finally, there will be a 5 minute de-brief in which judges can provide students with feedback from which they can then learn and improve. Prizes will be awarded to the teams that deliver the Best Overall Pitch and for teams that deliver the Best Overall Presentation. Due to time constraints, teams will only be expected to consider ‘comparable analysis’ as a means of analysing the fundamentals of each company.
What if I know nothing about valuing a company and advising on an acquisition?
Do not stress if you feel that you have little or no experience concerning company valuation or acquisitions. The Bond Investment Group will be running a bridging course that will explain the basic aspects of valuation, including ‘comparable analysis’ and ‘comparable valuation’. The judging panel will also take into consideration that students have limited knowledge concerning company valuation and will therefore judge students accordingly.
Why should I participate in the IB Competition?
There are two main reasons that students should participate in the IB Competition (aside from the fact that it will provide students with an edge over other applicants in the final stages of the recruitment process in many investment banks). Firstly, there will be generous cash prizes as well as free tickets for upcoming BIG events for the winners in each category (Best Overall Pitch and Best Overall Presentation). Secondly, the event will be fully catered, with sandwiches, snacks and beverages provided for participants on the day.
How do I sign up?
Students can sign up for the IB Competition by emailing Lewis Bourne at lewis.bourne@student.bond.edu.au – students should include the full names of each contestant, their respective degrees, their email addresses, their mobile numbers and their progress through their relevant degrees. Due to time constraints, the number of teams that can compete is limited. Be quick to sign-up as nominations will be processed on a first in, first served basis!
