Getting ready for the conference call:
Step one:
Prepare a four by four square, randomly filling each cell with one of the below phrases / words.
synergy
accretive
pitch
bottom line
revisit
double check
margin expansion
24/7
scrubbed
benchmarking
value-added
aggressive
premium
impressive growth
market
leverage
Step two:
Tick off each block when one of the phrases is mentioned
Step three:
When you have ticked off four boxes in a row, column or diagonally, stand up, bang your fist on the table and shout "BULLSHIT!"
Monday, July 30, 2007
Value added in investment banking
Working for a client on the buyside is always fun. You’re in a kickoff meeting you’re your client, for whom the firm is a house bank, and you’ve just been handed a presentation the client received from an investment bank hired to sell the company your client wants to buy. The first thing you can think of, is trying to pick at little bits and bulbs that don’t add up in their numbers, spelling errors, bad formatting, and other high value added remarks.
Having spent some fifteen minutes on the slides, one particular page looked like this halfway through the meeting.
