Walk through any M&A or LBO deal like you have done it before.
Deal walkthroughs are a near-certainty in investment banking and private equity interviews. This pillar gives you the full framework for sourcing, structuring, and delivering one — and forming the kind of opinion that actually wins the room.
How to build a real M&A deal walkthrough from the two documents that do the work: the press release and the definitive proxy statement. Where the rationale and valuation hide, which proxies are rich versus thin, and how to pick a deal that won't leave you with a thin answer.
16 min readUpdated Jun 11, 2026
The three sources behind an M&A deal walkthrough — press release, proxy statement, news — in the order to mine them, plus the exact proxy section that writes half your answer and the four-reasons test for whether a deal is worth prepping.
9 min readUpdated Jun 11, 2026
The four ways candidates blow an IB deal walkthrough: a deal you can't defend, reciting the proxy, a bloated delivery, and no real opinion. One real deal runs through it all, Boyd Gaming's $170mm buy of Pala, plus the one part interviewers actually grade you on.
21 min readUpdated Jun 11, 2026
Selection is the highest-leverage decision in walkthrough prep, not delivery. Pick a deal the team actually ran (prepping for Moelis, I chose Boyd Gaming/Pala Interactive), then vet its proxy for at least 4 reasons before a famous name like L3Harris/Aerojet leaves you dry.
9 min readUpdated Jun 10, 2026
The two public documents behind almost any IB deal walkthrough: the press release for the skeleton, the proxy for the board's reasoning and the advisors' valuation work (AMD/Xilinx, pages 89 to 97). Plus the four-reason test before you commit to a deal.
8 min readUpdated Jun 10, 2026
Five parts to a deal walkthrough, and four of them you lift almost word for word from the press release and proxy. Here's the whole framework run start to finish on Boyd Gaming's $170mm buy of Pala Interactive, plus the fifth part, your own take, where you actually compete.
20 min readUpdated Jun 5, 2026
Every question hiding inside an M&A deal walkthrough, the opener, the five parts, the follow-ups, run through one real deal: Boyd Gaming's $170mm buy of Pala Interactive. Plus the one question that actually decides how you score.
13 min readUpdated Jun 11, 2026
The five-part structure for walking through an M&A deal in an IB interview, scripted end to end on the deal I gave in my own Moelis interview: Boyd Gaming's $170mm buy of Pala Interactive. Plus the one section they actually grade — what you think of the deal.
16 min readUpdated Jun 11, 2026
Boyd Gaming's $170mm acquisition of Pala Interactive, worked into a full deal walkthrough you could give in an IB interview: the five-part structure, where every fact comes from, and the one part you can't copy off a filing — your read on the deal.
16 min readUpdated Jun 11, 2026
The three places an M&A deal's strategic rationale actually lives, how to tell real logic from M&A-process boilerplate, and the buyer-and-seller structure, run through Boyd Gaming's $170mm buy of Pala. Plus the reasons you hold in reserve for 'Your Perspective.'
9 min readUpdated Jun 11, 2026
The full five-part framework for walking through an M&A deal in an IB interview — threaded start to finish through one real deal (Boyd Gaming / Pala Interactive), plus the one part that actually wins the interview.
19 min readUpdated Jun 11, 2026
More articles coming soon
It's where you pick a real transaction — an M&A deal or an LBO — and walk the interviewer through what happened and what you think about it. They ask because it's the fastest way to tell whether you actually follow deals and can think like a banker, versus someone who memorized technical definitions. It's one of the most common questions in IB interviews, so you want at least one deal you can discuss cold.
Pick a deal that's recent, large enough to have full public documentation, and that you can genuinely explain the rationale for — ideally in a sector you find interesting. A clean strategic acquisition where the logic is easy to articulate beats a complicated mega-merger you only half understand. If you worked on a deal during an internship, that's often your strongest choice, because you can speak to your actual role.
Most of a strong walkthrough is public and free. The deal's press release and its definitive proxy statement give you the buyer, the target, the price, the structure, the advisors, and the rationale both companies stated — nearly word for word. Pull those two documents, organize the facts, and you've built four of the five parts of a walkthrough before you've added a single original thought.
Your perspective. Four-fifths of a walkthrough is extraction — facts anyone can lift from public filings — so reciting them only proves you can read. The part that separates candidates is "your view": did the price make sense, was the strategic logic sound, what's the risk. That's where the interviewer decides whether you think like a banker or just skimmed a headline.
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