Investment Banking interview preparation

Questions

100

Traced to a firm

100

Firms

46

Updated

September 2026

Asked at

All firmsTSTruist Securities10Rothschild & Co8Centerview Partners7CSCredit Suisse7HWHarris Williams6Houlihan Lokey6Lazard6Mizuho6Barclays5Citi5Deutsche Bank5Evercore5Moelis & Company5MSMorgan Stanley5Piper Sandler5RCRBC Capital Markets5Goldman Sachs4Nomura4TD Securities4Bank of America3GSGuggenheim Securities3J.P. Morgan3Jefferies3Moody's3Perella Weinberg Partners3WPWarburg Pincus3WBWilliam Blair3HSBC2Lincoln International2Scotiabank2TPTPG2UBS2Wells Fargo Securities2Advent International1Apollo Global Management1Bain Capital1Balyasny Asset Management1BLBlackRock1BPBNP Paribas1General Atlantic1Invesco1Morningstar1PIMCO1STSociété Générale1SSState Street1WMWellington Management1

Topic

All topicsAccounting14Valuation21M&A10Markets and deals10Capital markets3LBO8Leveraged finance3Restructuring2Credit3Debt capital markets2Capital structure2Case and estimation11Brainteasers6Fit5

Level

AnyCoreIntermediateHard

Type

AnyTechnicalCaseBrainteaserFitMarket view

1. 041Who is typically willing to pay more for an acquisition, a financial sponsor or a strategic buyer?M&AIntermediatetechnicalHoulihan LokeyMergers and Acquisitions · Los Angeles · 2026

   Say this

   A strategic, normally, because it can capture synergies and does not need a fixed return on equity. A sponsor is constrained by its return hurdle and the debt markets, so it is valuing standalone cash flows only.

   Then walk it

   1. The strategic gets cost synergies, revenue synergies and sometimes a strategic premium for defending a market position. All of that expands the price it can justify.
   2. It also has a lower cost of capital and no fund life, so it can accept a longer payback.
   3. The sponsor has to hit roughly a 20 to 25 percent IRR in five years with debt it can actually raise. That caps the entry multiple mechanically.
   4. Where sponsors win anyway: a platform sponsor with an existing portfolio company in the sector effectively has synergies too, through a bolt-on. In that case the gap closes or reverses.
   5. And in a cheap credit market with high multiples, sponsors have repeatedly outbid strategics, because the leverage available made the maths work. So the rule holds on average and breaks often.

   Where candidates lose it

   Stating the rule with no mechanism and no exception. The interviewer wants the return-hurdle constraint named explicitly, and the bolt-on case is the answer that shows you follow live deals.

   Expect next

   • When does the sponsor win?
   • What return does a sponsor actually need?
   • How does the credit market change your answer?

   Reported by candidates at Houlihan Lokey (Mergers and Acquisitions, Los Angeles, 2026). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

2. 042What is the difference between management rollover and management incentives?M&AHardtechnicalCitiMergers and Acquisitions · New York · 2026

   Say this

   Rollover is management reinvesting its existing equity into the new deal instead of cashing out. Incentives are new equity granted to management going forward, usually options or a management incentive plan that vests on performance.

   Then walk it

   1. Rollover is backward-looking value. Management already owns shares; instead of taking the cash, they roll some percentage into the new capital structure alongside the sponsor.
   2. It reduces the sponsor's cheque size, which is helpful, and it signals confidence, which buyers care about. It can also be tax-deferred, so management has a reason to want it.
   3. Incentives are forward-looking and dilutive to the sponsor. A typical management incentive plan is five to fifteen percent of equity, vesting on time and on a return hurdle.
   4. In a model they sit in different places. Rollover is a source of funds in the sources and uses table. The incentive pool is dilution to the sponsor's exit proceeds, so it reduces the sponsor's IRR, not the entry price.
   5. The reason both exist: rollover aligns management on the downside because their own money is at risk, and the incentive plan aligns them on the upside. A sponsor wants both.

   Where candidates lose it

   Conflating the two, or putting the incentive pool in sources and uses. Rollover funds the deal; incentives dilute the exit. Getting that placement right is what the question is actually testing.

   Expect next

   • How does the incentive pool affect the sponsor's IRR?
   • How much rollover would you expect management to do?
   • Where does rollover sit in the sources and uses?

   Reported by candidates at Citi (Mergers and Acquisitions, New York, 2026). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

3. 043Walk me through a deal you have been following, and tell me how it changed the industry.Markets and dealsIntermediatetechnicalBarclaysInvestment Banking · New York · 2023EvercoreInvestment Banking · Menlo Park · 2025Moelis & CompanyInvestment Banking · London · 2026WBWilliam BlairInvestment Banking · Atlanta · 2026

   Say this

   Pick one deal, know it cold, and tell it as a story with a number in every sentence: who bought whom, for how much, at what multiple, funded how, and why it made strategic sense.

   Then walk it

   1. Open with the facts in one breath: acquirer, target, enterprise value, the multiple paid, the premium to the undisturbed price, and the funding mix.
   2. Then the strategic rationale in one sentence. What did the buyer get that it could not build, and what synergies did it guide to?
   3. Then your own view, which is the part that matters. Was the price defensible? I would say something like: at fourteen times EBITDA against a peer set at eleven, the buyer needed the full guided synergies to justify it, so the deal is really a bet on integration.
   4. Then the industry effect: did it trigger consolidation, did it force a competitor response, did it change how the sector is valued?
   5. Pick a deal in the group you are interviewing with, and pick one where you have an actual opinion. A deal you can only describe is worse than a smaller deal you can argue about.

   Where candidates lose it

   Choosing the biggest headline deal and only reciting what the press release said. If you cannot say what multiple was paid and whether you think it was too much, you have not followed the deal, you have read about it.

   Expect next

   • Was the price too high?
   • If you were the buyer, what would you have worried about in diligence?
   • Who else could have bought it?

   Reported by candidates at Barclays (Investment Banking, New York, 2023); Evercore (Investment Banking, Menlo Park, 2025); Moelis & Company (Investment Banking, London, 2026); William Blair (Investment Banking, Atlanta, 2026). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

4. 044If you were the buyer, what would you consider before doing this acquisition?M&AIntermediatetechnicalEvercoreInvestment Banking · Menlo Park · 2025

   Say this

   Four things in order: is the target worth what I am paying on a standalone basis, what synergies are genuinely achievable, can I fund it without breaking my own credit profile, and can I actually integrate it.

   Then walk it

   1. Standalone value first. Run the DCF and comps on the target alone, ignoring any synergy, so you know what you are paying for the business as it is.
   2. Then synergies, split into cost and revenue, with a probability attached. Cost synergies are largely deliverable; revenue synergies are usually aspirational and I would haircut them heavily.
   3. Then funding and credit. What does pro forma leverage look like, does it breach covenants, does it cost the acquirer its rating? A deal that triggers a downgrade can be value-destructive even if it is accretive.
   4. Then integration and diligence risk: customer concentration, key-person dependency, systems compatibility, culture, and anything in the quality-of-earnings work that suggests the EBITDA is not real.
   5. And the deal-breaker screen: antitrust, foreign investment review, and change-of-control clauses in the target's major contracts. Those are the things that kill deals after you have paid the fees.

   Where candidates lose it

   Producing an unstructured list of worries. Structure is the point. Standalone value, then synergies, then financing, then integration, then closing risk. Give the frame first, then populate it.

   Expect next

   • Which synergies would you actually put in the model?
   • How would you diligence the quality of earnings?
   • What would make you walk away?

   Reported by candidates at Evercore (Investment Banking, Menlo Park, 2025). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

5. 045Based on the financials in front of you, would you advise this company to sell or not?M&AHardsuperdayHWHarris WilliamsInvestment Banking · Richmond · 2024Lincoln InternationalMergers and Acquisitions · New York · 2025

   Say this

   I would answer the question directly with a recommendation, then defend it on three axes: where the business is in its own trajectory, where the market is in its cycle, and what the owner actually wants.

   Then walk it

   1. Sell into strength. If margins have just peaked, growth is decelerating, and the sector is trading at a cyclical high multiple, that is the moment. Buyers pay for the next three years, not the last three.
   2. Hold if there is a visible, fundable value-creation step the current owner can capture: a margin programme half done, a new facility about to come online, a contract about to be signed. Let the buyer pay for the result, not the plan.
   3. Then the owner's own position. A founder with all their net worth in one asset has a diversification reason to sell that has nothing to do with the multiple. A partial sale can solve that.
   4. Test the buyer universe before recommending a process. A thin buyer list means a weak auction and a weak price, whatever the financials say.
   5. Then commit. Something like: given decelerating growth, peak margins and a deep strategic buyer list, I would run a process now and target the strategics.

   Where candidates lose it

   Hedging. Middle-market bankers ask this to see whether you can make a recommendation on incomplete information. Saying 'it depends' and stopping is a fail. Pick a side, then name what would change your mind.

   Expect next

   • Who would be a dark horse buyer?
   • Build me the buyer universe.
   • What would change your recommendation?

   Reported by candidates at Harris Williams (Investment Banking, Richmond, 2024); Lincoln International (Mergers and Acquisitions, New York, 2025). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

6. 046Who would be a dark horse candidate to buy a pen manufacturer?M&AHardsuperdayHWHarris WilliamsMergers and Acquisitions · Richmond · 2025

   Say this

   I would look for buyers who want the capability rather than the product. An injection-moulding or precision-plastics group buying for the manufacturing asset, or a promotional-products and corporate-gifting business buying for the channel.

   Then walk it

   1. The obvious buyers are other stationery brands and their sponsors. Those are not dark horses, so I would name them and move past them.
   2. The manufacturing angle: a pen is a high-volume precision plastics and micro-assembly business. A contract manufacturer in medical devices or cosmetics packaging could want that capacity and tolerance capability.
   3. The channel angle: whoever owns the shelf. A promotional products distributor, or a corporate gifting platform, buys the brand as a hook for a much larger merchandising catalogue.
   4. The brand angle: luxury. If the target has any premium line, a luxury goods group could take the brand and abandon the volume business entirely. That is a different valuation basis, brand not EBITDA.
   5. And the adjacency angle: an office-products distributor integrating backwards, or an Asian manufacturer buying Western distribution and brand. Each of these values a different asset inside the same company, which is the whole point of building a buyer universe properly.

   Where candidates lose it

   Naming only competitors. The word 'dark horse' means they want to see whether you can decompose the company into its separate assets, manufacturing, brand, channel, and find who values each one most. Structure the answer by asset, not by company.

   Expect next

   • Which of those pays the most?
   • How would you approach them differently in a process?
   • How would you value it for a luxury buyer versus a manufacturer?

   Reported by candidates at Harris Williams (Mergers and Acquisitions, Richmond, 2025). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

7. 047How are current macroeconomic conditions affecting the M&A market?Markets and dealsIntermediatetechnicalDeutsche BankInvestment Banking · Boston · 2025Perella Weinberg PartnersInvestment Banking · Houston · 2025

   Say this

   Work the chain from rates to deal volume: the cost and availability of debt sets what sponsors can pay, valuation gaps between buyers and sellers set whether processes clear, and confidence in forecasts sets whether boards will commit at all.

   Then walk it

   1. Rates first. Financing cost sets the sponsor's maximum entry multiple directly, because the deal has to service the debt. Higher rates compress what leverage can support.
   2. Then the bid-ask spread. Sellers anchor on the multiple they could have got two years ago, buyers price off today's cost of capital. When that gap is wide, processes get pulled and volume falls.
   3. Then financing availability, which is separate from price. Private credit has taken a large share of leveraged lending from the banks, so deals can now get done even when the syndicated market is shut.
   4. Then confidence. Boards do not approve transformational deals when they cannot forecast next year. That is why uncertainty hurts volume more than the level of rates does.
   5. And the composition effect worth naming: in tougher markets you see more all-stock mergers, more minority and structured deals, more corporate carve-outs as companies raise cash, and more take-privates when public multiples fall below private marks.

   Where candidates lose it

   Answering with stale numbers or none at all. You do not need to be right about the exact policy rate, but you must know roughly where rates sit and one live example of a deal or a sector that reflects it. Update this the week of your interview.

   Expect next

   • What makes a good IPO environment?
   • What would you expect to happen to deal volume next year?
   • How has private credit changed leveraged finance?

   Reported by candidates at Deutsche Bank (Investment Banking, Boston, 2025); Perella Weinberg Partners (Investment Banking, Houston, 2025). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

8. 048If a company is dual listed, which market should it raise in?Capital marketsHardtechnicalCSCredit SuisseInvestment Banking · Mumbai · 2021

   Say this

   Wherever the cost of capital is lowest after all frictions, which in practice means wherever the natural investor base is. That is usually the market with deeper liquidity in your sector and better sector comparables.

   Then walk it

   1. Start with valuation. If your sector trades at a higher multiple in one market because that market has the specialist investors and analysts, you raise there. Issuing where you are better understood is cheaper capital.
   2. Then liquidity. A deeper market absorbs a large primary issue with less price impact and a tighter discount to the last close.
   3. Then the frictions: listing and ongoing compliance cost, disclosure regime, index eligibility, and withholding tax treatment for the investors you are targeting.
   4. Currency and use of proceeds matter too. If you are funding capital expenditure in rupees, raising dollars creates an exposure you then have to hedge or live with.
   5. For an Indian issuer the concrete version of this is: domestic listing gives you index inclusion and a domestic mutual fund and retail bid, while an overseas raise can offer a better multiple for a technology story and access to larger institutional tickets. The answer follows the investor base, not national pride.

   Where candidates lose it

   Answering 'whichever has the higher share price'. Price levels across listings converge through arbitrage. The real question is where the marginal investor is and what the all-in cost of capital is after tax and compliance.

   Expect next

   • What are the differences between an India listing and a US listing?
   • What makes a good IPO environment?
   • How would fungibility between the two lines affect your answer?

   Reported by candidates at Credit Suisse (Investment Banking, Mumbai, 2021). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

9. 049What are the differences between listing in India and listing in the US?Capital marketsIntermediatetechnicalCSCredit SuisseInvestment Banking · Mumbai · 2021

   Say this

   Different regulators, different investor mix and different tolerance for loss-making growth. India is SEBI-governed with a large retail and domestic institutional bid; the US is SEC-governed with deeper institutional capital and more appetite for unprofitable scale stories.

   Then walk it

   1. Regulator and process: SEBI reviews the draft offer document and the timetable is fairly prescriptive, with mandated retail and anchor allocations. The US is a disclosure regime with SEC comment letters and far more flexibility on structure.
   2. Investor base: Indian books lean on domestic mutual funds, insurers and a genuine retail tranche. US books are dominated by large institutions, so fewer, bigger tickets and more reliance on the anchor process.
   3. Valuation of unprofitable companies: the US market has historically paid for growth without earnings more readily. India's market has become much more receptive to this than a decade ago, but the scrutiny of path-to-profitability is heavier.
   4. Compliance load: US listing brings Sarbanes-Oxley, quarterly reporting to SEC standards, class-action litigation risk and materially higher ongoing cost. India is cheaper to maintain.
   5. And structural points that decide real cases: index inclusion and the domestic flow that follows it, currency of proceeds, dual-class share structures which the US permits and India generally does not, and where your customers and comparables actually are.

   Where candidates lose it

   Reducing it to 'US gives higher valuations'. That was more true five years ago than now, and an interviewer in Mumbai will push back. Talk about investor base, share structure and compliance cost, which are the durable differences.

   Expect next

   • Where would you advise an Indian software company to list?
   • Why do some Indian companies choose to list overseas?
   • How does dual-class structure change your answer?

   Reported by candidates at Credit Suisse (Investment Banking, Mumbai, 2021). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

10. 050What makes a good IPO environment?Capital marketsIntermediatetechnicalMizuhoGeneralist · New York · 2026

    Say this

    Low volatility, rising or stable indices, recent IPOs trading above issue price, and sector multiples that let the issuer accept the price. The single best indicator is how the last three deals in the sector are trading.

    Then walk it

    1. Volatility is the gating factor. The VIX above roughly 25 effectively closes the window, because you cannot price a book when investors cannot price risk two weeks out.
    2. Aftermarket performance of recent deals matters more than the index level. If the last few IPOs broke issue, investors will not show up for the next one at any sensible price.
    3. Valuation levels have to be acceptable to the seller. A sponsor will not float an asset at a discount to its own carrying mark; it will wait or sell privately instead.
    4. You also need a receptive institutional bid with cash to deploy, and ideally a cornerstone or anchor investor willing to be named in the book.
    5. And a full pipeline is self-reinforcing. Windows tend to open and shut for everyone at once, which is why banks rush to price in the same three weeks.

    Where candidates lose it

    Listing 'good market conditions' without naming an observable. Volatility level and how the last three deals traded are the two things an ECM banker actually looks at. Name them specifically.

    Expect next

    • Why do IPOs get priced at a discount to fair value?
    • What is a greenshoe and why does it exist?
    • Would you advise a client to IPO or sell to a sponsor right now?

    Reported by candidates at Mizuho (Generalist, New York, 2026). Source: Wall Street Oasis.

Firm tags come from public, anonymous candidate reports on Wall Street Oasis: strong signal, not sworn testimony. Firms are named as the places a question was reported, not as partners of Fin Maverick. Answers are written for this page to show how to think out loud; they are not scripts to recite.