The National Investment Banking Competition (NIBC) is the world’s largest investment banking competition, with over 1,800 global participants coming together to compete in a real-world corporate finance scenario with over 40 participating firms. Our team, Delaney, Hemadri, Elsa and Zach — all Accounting and Financial Management (AFM) students — had the privilege of competing in the first and final rounds of the NIBC in Vancouver this March!
Zachary, Elsa, Delaney, and Hemadri
The first round of the competition took place in early January and we competed against nearly 500 teams from across the world. We were tasked with creating a pitchbook outlining strategic advice for one of the world’s largest alcoholic beverage companies, Diageo.
Our team did extensive research on Diageo and its industry by reading company filings, management call transcripts and equity research reports. We identified both organic and inorganic growth opportunities that would best align with Diageo’s strategic objectives.In early February, our team found out that we made it to finals, placing in the top 13% of all first round teams!
On the weekend of the final round, we arrived in Vancouver a day before the competition started and explored as much of the waterfront as we could. Later that night, we had a case debrief with the broader NIBC team and we found out that we were going to be analyzing a potential merger and acquisitions deal with Diageo and a competitor and that our work started at 5:30 a.m. the next morning. After the debrief, we had a quick team meeting, found a slide template that was optimal for the potential case, and divided up the parts. On the morning of the competition, we all worked together in a hotel room, and we had six hours to create and refine a pitch to a panel of industry professionals later that day.
After lunch, we had the pleasure of visiting the Scotiabank office, and we presented to a panel of three members from the Investment Banking team. In total, our presentation was eight minutes long with a five-minute Q&A period at the end. Our presentation focused on why we thought the acquisition was dilutive from Diageo’s end, meaning that it should not go through.
The next part of the conference consisted of a variety of panels and a gala dinner on the final night. We joined and participated in the Q&A panel, partaking in Moelis Sell Side Panel, GoldenTree Digital Assets Panel, BlackRock Buy Side Panel and BCI Investing in Infrastructure. We were able to listen to industry professionals from across the capital markets about their career journeys and what it's like to work in each area.
After this, the team reconnected and prepared for the gala dinner. The dinner started with an opening address followed by a keynote with Paul Meehan, Founder of NÜTRL Vodka. The keynote highlighted his in-depth knowledge of the alcoholic beverages industry and an inside look at one of the largest Canadian beverage acquisitions of its time. After this, we watched the presentation and Q&A of the top 3 presenting teams. This allowed our group to reflect on the areas we excelled in and where we could have improved, providing us with valuable insight to be passed to next year's competing NIBC team.
Overall, participating in NIBC was an incredible experience. We were able to apply our course and co-op learnings, and connect with students and professionals from around the world. We would highly recommend NIBC to other undergraduate students interested in investment banking!