Investment Banking 101

Learn mergers and acquisitions as the process of combining or transferring ownership, including mergers, acquisitions, friendly or hostile deals, and horizontal, vertical, and conglomerate structures, guided by M&A advisory.

Explore how an initial public offering turns a private company public, raises capital, boosts credibility, and enables liquidity, while underwriters price, value, and market the deal to institutional investors.

Capital markets power finance by issuing securities in the primary market and enabling trading in the secondary market, with instruments such as stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and preferred shares.

Explore how capital markets fund long-term growth through stocks or equity securities, bonds, debentures, and convertible securities, connecting governments and corporations to infrastructure and research and development.

Asset management delegates portfolio decisions to a professional manager who actively invests, while advisory services offer market insights, keeping clients in control with AUM-based or flexible fees.

Explore how structured products blend bonds or equities with derivatives to tailor risk and return for institutional investors, including capital protection, yield enhancement, and leverage options.

Understand the balance sheet as a snapshot of a company, detailing assets, liabilities, and shareholders' equity, with current and non-current categories and the formula assets equal liabilities plus shareholders' equity.

Explore how a balance sheet reveals a company's financial position by analyzing assets, liabilities, and shareholders' equity for Example Corporation as of December 31, 2024.

Explore how the income statement tracks revenue, COGS, and expenses to reveal gross, operating, and net profit margins, and the formulas behind profitability metrics.

Analyze Example Corporation's income statement over 2022–2024 to understand revenue growth, cost of sales, gross profit, operating income, and net income, and assess profitability and financial health.

Explore how the cash flow statement tracks cash movements across operating, investing, and financing activities, revealing a company’s ability to fund operations, invest in growth, and return value to shareholders.

Analyze Example Corporation's cash flows across operating, investing, and financing activities, showing a $262,000 operating cash flow, -$260,000 investing cash flow, and $90,000 financing cash flow, ending at $193,000.

Strategic planning defines the rationale and synergies for a buy-side M&A deal, guiding target screening, due diligence, and valuation via DCF, comps, and precedent transactions.

Assess due diligence in mergers and acquisitions to reveal risks across legal, financial, operational, tax, information technology and cybersecurity, human resources, and environmental domains, influencing valuation and indemnity clauses.

Explore how a term sheet, a non-binding blueprint, outlines core terms—from issuer and offering type to price and closing conditions, and accelerates drafting by providing a clear reference.

Lawyers draft key deal documents, ensure compliance, and guide due diligence; analysts turn data into valuation while bankers structure deals and lead roadshows.

Explore how investment banks monetize through advisory fees on mergers and acquisitions, underwriting for IPOs and bonds, trading and brokerage services, and asset management.

Explore careers in capital markets across institutional asset management, private capital, wealth and advisory services, capital advisory, mergers and acquisitions, sales and trading, lending, risk oversight, and corporate finance.

Central banks regulate inflation, influence interest rates, and manage the money supply to sustain economic stability and growth, while supervising banks and providing liquidity during crises.

Central banks adjust interest rates to control borrowing, spending, and inflation, and use open market operations, reserve requirements, and QE to manage money supply toward a 2 percent target.

Understand Basel III's capital adequacy, leverage ratio, liquidity coverage ratio, and net stable funding ratio, and how Basel II and the Dodd-Frank act promote transparency and stability.