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- First Step to Final Offer 8/26/25
First Step to Final Offer 8/26/25
Brooks Gammill
August 26, 2025
Your weekly round-up of an M&A deal walkthrough, insightful market news summaries, technical quiz questions, and various internships, events, and diversity programs. A key resource to best prepare yourself for finance recruiting. If someone sent you the newsletter subscribe below!
CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
RecruitU Opportunities
RecruitU is building an AI-native career platform that Gen Z will trust to navigate their early careers, starting with the most competitive paths in finance and consulting.
We are hiring Product Growth Interns to help run the playbook and shape RecruitU’s student growth engine. This opportunity is ideal for students headed into IB, consulting, or VC who want hands-on startup experience, mentorship, and a real leadership role with scope, visibility, and impact.
RecruitU Partner Opportunities
RecruitU partners are companies that have recruiters actively using RecruitU to find students for their full-time and internship roles. So if you’re signed up, you have direct visibility with these companies.
Class of 2026 Finance Opportunities
Silversmith Capital Partners Silversmith Capital Partners Full-Time Analyst 2026 Link
JMI Equity 2026 Investment Analyst Link
Piper Sandler 2026 Investment Banking Analyst - Multiple Roles and Locations Link
LLR Partners 2026 Analyst, Investment Team Link
Truist 2026 Truist Securities - Investment Banking Analyst Program - Multiple Roles Link
Bank of America Global Risk 2026 Analyst Link
Wells Fargo 2026 Analyst Program - Multiple Roles and Locations Link
PJT Partners 2026 Full-Time Analyst - Multiple Roles and Locations Link
Citi Full-Time Analyst - Multiple Roles and Locations Link
Jane Street Quantitative Researcher Link
Jane Street Quantitative Trader Link
Class of 2027 Finance Opportunities
Class of 2027 Consulting Opportunities
PwC Summer 2026 Consulting Roles - Multiple Roles and Locations Link
To see c/o 2027 opportunities, click here: Class of 2027 Application Tracker
Class of 2028 Consulting Opportunities
Truist 2026 Summer Internship - Multiple Roles Link
TECHNICAL QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
A PE firm acquires a $100 million EBITDA company for a 12x multiple using 50% Debt. The company’s EBITDA grows to $150 million by Year 5, but the exit multiple drops to 10x.The company repays $300 million of Debt and generates $100 million of additional Cash in this period. What’s the approximate IRR? |
MARKET NEWS
Wall Street Banks Step Up Senior Hiring Amid Deal Rebound
Major Wall Street banks have brought on dozens of senior executives in recent months as optimism returned to the dealmaking environment. The rebound follows a slowdown earlier in 2025, when uncertainty over U.S. tariffs froze merger and IPO activity. With markets stabilizing, firms including Citigroup and UBS have expanded leadership teams in M&A, technology, and equity capital markets, while recruitment at junior levels surged 200% in August. The wave of hires signals growing confidence that banks are preparing for a stronger pipeline of transactions in the months ahead.
Source: Reuters
ETF Boom Outpaces US Stocks, Creating Investor Overload
The number of U.S.-listed exchange-traded funds has surged past 4,300, surpassing the roughly 4,200 individual stocks available, according to Morningstar data. This rapid growth, fueled by a record pace of new launches, has left investors overwhelmed by near-identical strategies and niche products ranging from AI to Bitcoin. While the abundance of ETFs has lowered costs and expanded access, it has also reduced the share of self-directed investors to just 25% in 2024, as many now turn to advisers to navigate the crowded market.
Source: Bloomberg
M&A DEAL OVERVIEW
Thoma Bravo to Acquire Verint and Merge with Calabrio for AI-Powered CX
Thoma Bravo has signed a $2 billion all-cash deal to acquire Verint Systems, with plans to combine it with Calabrio to form a leading AI-driven customer experience platform. The new entity will serve the $50 billion CX automation market, offering an expanded portfolio designed to improve business outcomes across organizations of all sizes. Leaders from both companies highlighted the shared vision of delivering an open, AI-powered CX platform, while Thoma Bravo emphasized that the merger creates one of the industry’s broadest solutions for innovation and growth.
Source: Thoma Bravo
LAST WEEK TECHNICAL QUESTION OF THE WEEK ANSWER:
Correct Answer: A, $1 billion — What is the market cap for a company that has...$2bn in assets, 3x Debt to Equity, and 2x P / BV…?
Explanation: The company’s equity value (book value of equity) is $500 million, since with $2 billion in assets and a 3:1 debt-to-equity ratio, debt must be $1.5 billion and equity $0.5 billion; applying the 2× price-to-book multiple gives a market capitalization of $1 billion.