Fraser Finance

Second Year Undergraduate,BA History, In-person Working

Work Projects

My work mostly focused around industry coverage. This meant market research, e.g. producing lists of firms within an industry and then segmenting the industry and firms. Much of this was to inform ongoing deals. A specific example was working on the sale of a German VoIP firm with sell-side client, in which buyers weren't particularly forthcoming as the firm's growth prospects weren't great - my job was to produce a shortlist of 20 firms that might make good potential acquirers for this firm and to justify why I had chosen each of the firms I put on this list in a meeting with the team. This was particularly interesting as they then acted on my recommendations and contacted some of the firms that I had suggested.

Another task was working on financial valuation. I produced a comps table comparing EV/Rev to Revenue Growth for firms in the SaaS space recently with firms that had operated in a similar manner previously. Did a similar thing for the same firms comparing EV/EBITDA and EBITDA Margin. Identifying the change in correlations here over time helped provide them with a better understanding of how these firms worked.

Daily Life

This internship was mostly in person. Officially the hours were 10-5 with an hour for lunch but I wanted to learn as much as possible so I would generally get in a bit earlier and take 10-15 mins for lunch. I stayed past 5 for the first half of the internship but as focus on academic commitments to prepare for the coming term heated up, I started to leave at 5. They were pretty relaxed about hours and would have taken us to lunches more if it had been a normal year.

The guys there were genuinely great - I got on really well with them and got so much out of talking to them as they are all 30 years into a career in the industry that I'm applying for. As a steppingstone internship for someone who wants to go into investment banking but isn't good enough/doesn't know enough at the time of applying to get into somewhere bigger and more established, this place is brilliant. The guys who worked there all had proper experience working at top firms (one with 5 years at McKinsey and 5 years at Goldman, another ex-Morgan Stanley, another ex-BCG) so the experience felt quite blue chip in a way

despite being generally pretty relaxed. I spent A LOT of time just chatting to them asking them question after question about banking and finance, which they were really happy to answer even if it was going off topic to the deals they were working on at the time. They also were very happy to discuss ongoing deals with me, which was brilliant, as having that kind of senior exposure and top-down perspective on a deal just doesn't happen anywhere else.

I really couldn't recommend this internship more. They were really just great people and really fun to be around. There was another intern there as well whom I got on very well with. The atmosphere in the office was great and I felt particularly lucky to be doing an inperson internship at this virtual moment in time.

Lasting Impressions

I think I got a lot out of it because I specifically know that I want to work in Investment Banking and so I worked hard at and alongside the internship to learn a lot of concepts and skills that I could apply to my work there. The experience has reaffirmed my commitment to applying to investment banking and has massively enhanced my CV which has helped me with the investment banking applications I'm currently in the middle of.

Third Year Undergraduate,BA European & Middle Eastern Languages, Inperson Working

Work Projects

My role as an intern at Fraser Finance was to research and analyse capital raising trends and M&A transactions in the Pharmaceuticals sector. Day-to-day, this involved reading a lot of industry and market coverage, compiling data and analysing it to identify areas of growth and opportunity and keeping in regular contact with my supervisors to update them on my progress and ask relevant questions where I did not understand things.

I also had an advisory role on a project, in which I identified a list of potential targets for an acquisition; I was involved in the phone call with the client and I felt that my insights were well-received and valuable to the possible transaction. In all, the experience was very enriching; I learnt a great deal from my supervisors, other employees in the firm who were keen to discuss their experience as well as through conversations with the other Oxford

intern about the markets and company valuations. The support from the host organisation was also excellent - at one point on the internship I had a bad accident and had to go to A&E to get stitches. They were very accommodating about this and I was able to return to the office when I felt ready to.

Daily Life

On the first day, the supervisors allocated different market coverage areas to each intern and divided their supervision according to their own coverage areas. I was given Pharmaceuticals, while the other intern was to focus on TMT. I then had a discussion with my supervisor about the plan he had produced for my time on the internship, including an outline of my tasks and when they should be completed by - it was very helpful to have this comprehensive structure, and we followed it throughout the internship, with some adjustments to the timeframe at points. Outside of work, I used the opportunity of being in London to socialise with school and university friends, which was really enjoyable.

Lasting Impressions

I very much enjoyed the internship - I gained a great deal of knowledge about the industry and, more specifically, about M&A, capital raising and company valuations. I also learnt a lot about the impact of political decisions on markets, particularly in the COVID-19 period, and I have had regular discussions with my supervisors about this.

As to how the knowledge I have gained has impacted on my career ambitions: I will use the knowledge I have gained from this internship to inform my applications to positions in the sector, and I am certain that the experiences I gained on the internship will help me in securing a longer-term internship or analyst position with a bank. I am not sure if I want to pursue a career in investment banking, though the fundamentals of what I learnt are applicable to the other roles in banking I want to apply to.

What advice would you give to future interns?

I would advise future interns to seek out every opportunity they can while on the internship; volunteer your help, ask questions and engage with discussions.