Week 3 at NFP M&A New York

My third week at NFP has been the most interesting and fun week yet. I was able to sit in on multiple deals where I learnt about the aspects and processes involved with M&A. Just like anything in business, it is a trade. M&A involves buying and selling and through these calls and deal negotiations, I have learnt that M&A is very much to do with selling a concept to someone to entice them to be acquired by us. I listened in on my boss, the VP of M&A at NFP work his magic and use his previous experience to sell the concept of an acquisition to several companies. It required confidence, knowledge and most importantly, knowing your client/customer/audience. Being able to read what type of person they are, and connecting with them on this is important so that there is a mutual trust in the transaction. But just like any business deal or transaction, you need to make sure that you are better off than you were before the deal. I am very lucky to be surrounded by such experienced professionals that are very good at what they do and through this I have been able to learn the processes when making deals and dealing with clients. In the past 3 weeks I have seen/been part of 8-10 deals amassing investments/purchase prices of over $20 million and through this, I have learnt plenty. I have learnt that it is important to use your best judgement and not be afraid to say no to the deal or transaction if it isn't worth it or if it's a risky acquisition. All of this is a very small aspect of the whole transaction whereby diligence plays a huge role, whether it is legally or financially, once the terms are drawn up, lawyers, accountants and sometimes banks if it is a large transaction ($10 million or more) are involved in the transaction to complete the whole process.