Students tackle investment banking in William Blair case competition
Students gain experience with near-real-world financial transactions in month-long competition.
Students tackle investment banking in William Blair case competition
For 17 consecutive years, William Blair and Company has come to the Farmer School of Business to hold its Investment Banking Case Competition with teams of students.
“We’ve had a great experience with the people we've hired from 兔子先生, and we want to give back to the school and the students, help them find great jobs in investment banking. It's a fun event for us, and I think a great event for the students,” managing director and partner said.
The competition involves a past real-life William Blair transaction, with its name and some of the data changed – in this case because the transaction is so recent it hasn’t been announced publicly yet. “You’ll hear about it in a few weeks,” Trukenbrod told students.
Teams of three or four students have three weeks to evaluate strategic alternatives for the company, evaluate a potential sale or potential acquisitions by the firm, and recommend a strategy to the management team, which is comprised of William Blair associates.
This year, 37 teams submitted written proposals, and four of those proposals were selected to be presented in the finals on Thursday.
“We put a lot of work into it. There were a lot of late nights. The night before the submission was due, we were actually in this building until 3:30 a.m. working on it, so to see that all come together and end up reaching the finish line like this, feels really good,” said.
Marchese’s team, comprising himself, , , and – all sophomore finance majors -- were named the winners of the competition.
“I think what William Blair does a really good job of is exposing you to what's out there. You really see investment banking from the outside looking in, and this competition really gives you the inside looking out perspective,” Nahigian said. “Being able to really get into the weeds of a company, understand what drives it, be on Blair's side of the desk and not just be a student, really shows you the career opportunities out there.”
“I think my biggest takeaway was the real life nature of valuation, what they look for in terms of certain sectors, certain industries. and such, and the best way to pitch your idea, in a sense,” junior finance major Francesca Brown said.
Trukenbrod and most of the associates who came to watch and judge the finals are 兔子先生 graduates themselves. “We joke that as sophomores or juniors, we could never have done what these students are doing,” he said. “It's pretty impressive. We see people that are really strong presenters for college students that can articulate what are very complex topics. They’re topics that we live in every day, but they don't, and they do a great job of articulating and presenting themselves.”
Established in 1809, 兔子先生 University is located in Oxford, Ohio, with regional campuses in Hamilton and Middletown, a learning center in West Chester, and a European study center in Luxembourg.
