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- First Step to Final Offer 9/23/25
First Step to Final Offer 9/23/25
Brooks Gammill
September 23, 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 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
TD Cowen 2026 Full-Time Analyst Program – Investment Banking (New York) Link
Piper Sandler 2026 Campus Recruiting – Investment Banking Analyst – Technology - Multiple Roles and Locations Link
Macquarie 2026 Graduate Program - Multiple Roles Link
Baird Internship – Fixed Income Asset Management, Baird Advisors (Summer 2026) Link
Fidelity Investments Summer 2026 Undergraduate Internship - Finance Link
Charles River Associates Management Advisory Analyst/Associate (Energy) Link
Class of 2027 Finance Opportunities
Brown Brothers Harriman 2026 Summer Internship - Multiple Roles and Locations Link
Goldman Sachs 2026 | Americas | New York City Area | Investment Banking, M&A | Summer Analyst Link
Goldman Sachs 2026 | Americas | Chicago | Asset Management, Asset Marketing | Summer Analyst Link
Deutsche Bank 2026 Internship Program - Multiple Roles and Locations Link
Houlihan Lokey 2026 Summer Financial Analyst - Multiple Roles and Locations Link
Baird Internship – Private Wealth Management (Summer 2026) - Multiple Roles and Locations Link
Macquarie 2026 Macquarie Capital Summer Internship Program Link
Citi Banking 2026 Summer Analyst - Multiple Roles and Locations Link
RBC Capital Markets 2026 Capital Markets - Multiple Roles and Locations Link
Piper Sandler 2026 Campus Recruiting – Investment Banking Summer Analyst – Technology - Multiple Roles and Locations Link
Barclays Summer Internship Program 2026 - Multiple Roles and Locations Link
TD Cowen 2026 Summer Internship Program - Commercial Banking - Multiple Roles and Locations Link
Class of 2027 Consulting Opportunities
To see c/o 2027 opportunities, click here: Class of 2027 Application Tracker
Class of 2028 Finance and Consulting Opportunities
TECHNICAL QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
A PE firm buys a $100 EBITDA business at 10×, plans to sell in 5 years at the same 10×. It uses 6× Debt/EBITDA and repays half the debt in 5 years with no extra cash. What EBITDA growth is needed for a 25% IRR? |
MARKET NEWS
Wall Street Reclaims Ground from Private Credit with $20B in M&A Debt Deals
Wall Street banks are staging a strong comeback in M&A financing, arranging over $20 billion in leveraged loans and bonds as the syndicated loan market outcompetes private credit on pricing. Firms like JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup have secured major mandates from KKR, Advent, and Thoma Bravo. With new CLO funds driving rates to the lowest levels in years—down to 250–275 basis points in some cases—banks are luring borrowers away from private lenders. The shift marks a reversal from 2022, when private credit dominated amid bank balance sheet constraints
Source: Bloomberg
Citigroup Recruits Goldman and BNY Veterans to Strengthen Wealth Management Team
Citigroup has appointed Christine Curtiss and Kate Boucher to senior roles within its wealth management division as part of CEO Jane Fraser’s strategy to streamline operations and boost profitability. Curtiss, formerly of BNY Mellon, will join in October to lead asset manager relationships. Boucher, previously head of U.S. third-party wealth alternatives at Goldman Sachs, will start in December as global head of alternative investment sales. These moves come amid a 20% year-over-year revenue increase in Citi’s wealth unit during Q2, which Fraser has designated as a key growth area
Source: Reuters
M&A DEAL OVERVIEW
Thoma Bravo to Acquire PROS Holdings in $1.4 Billion AI SaaS Deal
Thoma Bravo has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire PROS Holdings, an AI-powered SaaS pricing and selling solutions provider, in an all-cash deal valued at approximately $1.4 billion. The transaction will offer PROS shareholders $23.25 per share—representing a 41.7% premium over its September 19 closing price—and will take the company private. The move aims to accelerate PROS’ AI and agentic intelligence roadmap while leveraging Thoma Bravo’s operational expertise and capital to scale innovation, market expansion, and go-to-market execution
Source: Thoma Bravo
LAST WEEK TECHNICAL QUESTION OF THE WEEK ANSWER:
Correct Answer: D, Combined Enterprise Value: $750 million, Combined Equity Value: Not enough information — An Acquirer with $500M Equity Value and $600M Enterprise Value acquires a company for $100M Equity Value and $150M Enterprise Value. What are the combined Equity and Enterprise Values?
Explanation: The combined enterprise value is $750 million, simply adding the two companies’ enterprise values ($600 million + $150 million). However, the combined equity value can’t be determined from the given data because it depends on how the acquisition is financed (cash, debt, or stock), which isn’t specified.