Finance Interview
Prep Workshops
November 3 - 22
In partnership with the
Joshua Jia
Jules Koifman
| CEO / Instructor
| Instructor
Limestone Capital
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Our Mission
“…Provide an educational experience for students
seeking employment in the financial services sector by
offering weekly interview prep sessions, tutorials on
financial analysis, valuation techniques, and sector
research…”
Background
Situation
Solution
Implementation
Present Situation
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Inaccessible Interview Resources
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Marquee workshop is focused on basics, not enough for Bulge Bracket interview
Finance attracts interest from many students, but can have high barriers to entry
Purchasing finance resources is expensive
 Breaking Into Wall Street modules, 4 modules, $197 each
 Investment Banking Institute, a popular workshop in Toronto, costs $2,000
Accounting
16%
Class of 2011 Job Acquisition Statistics.
Queen’s Commerce 2011 Annual Report.
27%
14%
Marketing, Sales,
Advertising
Finance
19%
24%
Consulting
Other
Background
Situation
Solution
Implementation
Limestone Capital Offering
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Finance Interview Preparation Workshops
6 Sessions: Saturdays at 4 p.m., Thursdays at 7 p.m.: November 3 – November 22
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Comparables Analysis and Precedent Transactions
Discounted Cash Flows and Accounting
Mergers & Acquisition (M&A)
Leveraged Buyouts (LBO)
Market Questions
Fit / Deals / Networking
Rationale
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Candidates differentiate themselves by knowing hard M&A and LBO questions
Queen’s needs to offer comprehensive resources to continue being competitive
Further Queen’s Commerce’s reputation as a career-minded institution
Eliminate perception that Ivey offers superior opportunities in finance
Background
Situation
Solution
Implementation
Session Instructors
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Joshua Jia
Barclays, Investment Banking Summer Analyst, Toronto, Ontario
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Built precedent transactions valuation for the $414 mm Yamana-Extorre acquisition
Compiled and analyzed financial data in the $1.1 bn BCE-Q9 acquisition
Analyzed financials of potential buyers, worked on live sellside mandate from start to finish
Projected financials in LBO model for a live ~$10 bn acquisition
Created an LBO model on a $7+ bn infrastructure company for a pitch
Jules Koifman
RBC, Investment Banking Summer Analyst, Toronto, Ontario
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Worked on a variety of live M&A deals in the mining and diversified sectors
Created model for a pitch in the CMT industry
Worked on investor presentation for Standard Life’s first debt issue in Canada ($400 mm)
JCM Capital, Project Analyst, Toronto, Ontario
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Built financial models for a $150 million portfolio composed of multiple solar energy projects
Wrote three investment proposals to potential investors totalling $60 million in development and
construction capital
Background
Situation
Solution
Implementation
Conclusion
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Finance Interview Preparation Workshops
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“Preparing for finance recruiting isn’t just skimming The Vault anymore. Students
should study for recruiting like a course and do their homework, because the final
exam is the interview.” – VP at RBC, recruiter for Queen’s
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Like a course, there should be:
 “Homework:” regular readings are necessary
 Practice (mock interviews)
 Comprehensive, accessible resources for all interested students
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The most important “exam” of any Commerce student’s life
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Budgetary needs are modest, but partnership with Commerce Society is key
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Uniquely positioned to offer comprehensive course
 Experience is the best teacher
Background
Situation
Solution
Implementation
Session One
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Comparables Analysis and Precedent Transactions
Material includes: mechanics of Enterprise Value and multiples, comparables and precedent
valuation, advantages and disadvantages of different methods
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If Company A and Company B have the exact same financials and are in the exact same
line of business, why might they have different EV/EBITDA multiples?
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If you have a P/E of 10x and a cost of debt of 10%, what consideration would you use to
finance a transaction?
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What happens to P/E if the company issues debt to buy back stock?
Background
Situation
Solution
Implementation
Session Two
10
Accounting and Discounted Cash Flows
Material includes: transactions flowing through the three financial statements, accounting for
NOLs / deferred tax assets, DCF valuation, treasury stock method, unlevering and relevering
beta
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How does purchasing $100 of equipment with 50% debt affect all three of your financial
statements? What about a dividend recap?
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How do you value an NOL?
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Will discounting levered free cash flows vs. discounting unlevered free cash flows give
you the same enterprise value, and why?
Background
Situation
Solution
Implementation
Session Three
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Mergers & Acquisitions
Material includes: stock vs. cash transactions, merger modeling, shortcuts for calculating
accretion/dilution, calculating goodwill, synergies, M&A deal process, pitching M&A deals
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Walk me through a merger model.
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What is the shortcut to calculating if a deal is accretive or not in an all-stock deal? Allcash deal?
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Walk me through a typical M&A buyside process.
Background
Situation
Solution
Implementation
Session Four
12
Leveraged Buyouts
Material includes: LBO modeling, balance sheet adjustments in an LBO, shortcuts for
calculating IRR, mechanics of an LBO, ideal LBO candidates, pitching LBO deals
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Walk me through an LBO.
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Would you rather do an LBO on a copper mine, or a cobalt mine?
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Would you rather have Senior Debt / Assets as a covenant, or EBITDA / Interest
Expense?
Background
Situation
Solution
Implementation
Session Five
13
Market Questions
Material includes: structuring macroeconomic answers, pitching stocks (both long and short),
walking through investment strategies, answering S&T questions
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Pitch me a stock.
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If I gave you $10 million, how would you invest it?
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Where do you think the price of oil is going in the next 6 months?
Background
Situation
Solution
Implementation
Session Six
14
Fit, Situation, Deals
Material includes: how to answer the first three standard fit questions, how to answer difficult
situational questions, how to talk about deals
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How to master the “Walk me through your resume,” “Why this firm?” and “Why
investment banking/S&T/finance?” questions
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It’s 5:15 a.m. and you’re in the office. The printer just broke and your MD is at the airport,
waiting for a flight to Montreal for a client meeting. The flight leaves in 30 minutes. He has
no pitchbook, and is waiting for you to give it to him before the flight takes off. There are
no working printers nearby. What do you do?
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Tell me about a deal our firm has done in the last 6 months.
Background
Situation
Solution
Implementation