Investment Banking Pitchbook | Format + Examples

What is a Pitchbook?

The Pitchbook in investment banking is a marketing document presented by firms to existing and potential clients to sell their advisory services.

Table of Contents

What is a Pitchbook?
What is an Investment Banking Pitchbook?
Investment Banking Pitchbook Examples
M&A Pitchbook Example: Qatalyst Autonomy (PDF)

What is an Investment Banking Pitchbook?

In investment banking, a pitchbook serves as a marketing presentation to convince an existing client or potential client to hire their firm for advising on the matter at hand.

For example, the pitch book could be used in a “bake-off” among various competing firms for the same client to provide M&A advisory services to a client interested in acquiring a competitor, or a private company seeking to raise capital in the public markets via an initial public offering (IPO).

The standard sections of a pitch book in investment banking consist of a situational overview and the background of the firm, specifically the notable members of the group, and any relevant deal experience that pertains to the client, i.e. the purpose of these slides is to make the case that the firm is the most qualified to take on the client.

Beyond the background of the firm, the transaction merits are also discussed, with the high-level analysis supporting their key findings, which sets the foundation for how the client would be advised if chosen (i.e. the estimated valuation of the client, list of potential buyers or sellers, commentary on the firm’s recommended strategy, risks and mitigating factors, etc.).

Learn More → Investment Banking Primer

Investment Banking Pitchbook Examples

Below are several examples of real investment banking pitch books, from various investment banks.

If you’re wondering, pitch books like these are generally not available to the public.

These investment banking pitch books are rare examples of pitch books filed with the SEC and thus made it into the public domain.

Pitchbook Examples	Description
Goldman Sachs Pitch Book I	This is a typical sell-side pitch book, where Goldman is pitching to Airvana to become their sell-side advisor, so the focus is on why Airvana should go with Goldman and some high level analysis of how the market views Airvana in case they do pursue a sale.
Goldman Sachs Pitch Book II	Goldman, as they often do, won Airvana’s business (the company now gets a code name “Atlas”). This deck is a Goldman presentation to Atlas’ (i.e. Airvana’s) Special Committee during the process. Since Goldman is now the advisor, they have much more detailed company projections and better understand Airvana’s situation. This deck thus includes a detailed valuation analysis and an analysis of several strategic alternatives: not selling, selling, or recapitalizing the business (a few weeks later Airvana got sold).
Deutsche Bank Pitch Book	Deutsche Bank is pitching to AmTrust to become their sell-side advisor.
Citigroup Restructuring Deck	This is a “Process Update” deck for the potential restructuring of Tribune Publishing. The deal co-advised by Citigroup and Merril Lynch. Tribune was ultimately sold to Sam Zell.
Perella Pitchbook	Perella is the sell-side advisor to retailer Rue21 and is evaluating a $1b buyout proposal by private equity firm Apax Partners. The complete LBO and valuation analysis is included (and the deal ultimately took place).
BMO Fairness Opinion Pitch	(Scroll to p.75-126 of the document) Here is the BMO deck, which contains a comprehensive valuation analysis to support a proposed Go-Private deal for Patheon.

M&A Pitchbook Example: Qatalyst Autonomy (PDF)

We separated the following pitchbook out, since the context of this document is actually controversial.

Oracle made it available to the world, claiming they received the deck when Qatalyst, acting as Autonomy’s advisor, pitched Autonomy to Oracle.

Qatalyst and Autonomy, however, dispute this claim, with Qatalyst saying they were not as Autonomy’s advisor, but rather pitching ideas to Oracle to win a buy-side mandate.

With that said, here’s the deck.

Qatalyst M&A Pitchbook

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The nature of the feud is interesting, as it sheds light on how investment banking pitches are presented to clients. Therefore, I recommend everyone read the DealBreaker article below.

Frank Quattrone Probably Didn’t Want Everyone To See This Particular Pitchbook

“People who have real jobs are sometimes surprised to learn how much of investment banking consists of hopeless pitching. Your team puts together a forty-page slide deck with sixty pages of appendices, proofreads it repeatedly, updates numbers every day for two weeks, and prints a dozen glossy spiral-bound copies. Then you lug them halfway across the continent, slog through the first five pages with an increasingly bored potential client, are politely rebuffed, and then cleverly ask “hey do you want any extra copies of the presentation for your colleagues?” so you don’t have to carry them back on the plane. Glamorous work.”

Source: Dealbreaker