An investment banking pitch book is a marketing device/sales book created by investment banks/firms.
The sales presentation details the firm’s main attributes to secure a deal for the investment bank with the potential client.
The primary purpose of investment banking pitchbooks is to stimulate discussion between the potential client and the sales team and senior bankers of the investment bank.
It focuses on marketing the firm’s services and products.
These books include detailed information about the investment firm, its history, broad financial details, and its achievements.
In short, I would say that the term “pitch book” is used for almost any type of PowerPoint presentation that investment bankers create to attract new clients.
Investment Banking Pitch Book
Now, let’s look at the different types of investment banking pitch books based on the purpose for which they are created.
1. Market overviews / Bank introductions – (main pitch book):
This type of investment banking pitch book would include all details that one needs to have about the investment firm.
This would include its background details, its vision & mission statements, history, and details about management.
It also comprises significant achievements of the firm that would help set forth its efficiency.
Statistics related to recent deals, profits, details of successful investments, current trends, and deals in the market are also illustrated.
Hence, this type of pitch book needs to be updated regularly.
2. Deal pitch book
As the name suggests, this type of pitch book is created specifically for a particular deal.
This presentation focuses on exhibiting how they can specifically cater to their client’s financial and investing needs.
A deal-pitch book is used to illustrate details such as mergers & acquisitions (M&A), IPOs & debt issuance.
As compared to the main pitch book, the deal type may also list down the firm’s notable achievements and clients to assure acceptability and prospective partnership.
3. Management presentations
Once the client comes on board with the deal, the management presentations are used to pitch the clients to the investors.
This includes details on the client company and its management, customized aspects of the specific project, and key financial ratios.
It focuses on the client’s goals and how the investment firm can help achieve them.
So now that we have understood the different types of pitch books let’s focus on the anatomy of a pitch book.
A pitch book tangibly represents the investment bank/ firm; hence the details it contains must be accurate and up-to-date.
There is no scope for any mistakes, as they might leave a negative impression of the firm on the client.
The information should be brief and to the point with a simple but professional layout.
Since pitch books are of different types based on specific purposes, let us try and understand in detail what the contents of each type discussed above are.
Contents of an Investment Banking Pitch Book
- This pitch book contains slides showing the investment bank’s organization details, its vision and mission, history, global presence, key management personnel, and the size of the company.
- It will also contain information about recent deals, a sector-specific clientele list, and the services provided to them. You might also want to append “league table” slides portraying the firm’s ranking as compared to competitors.
- The main pitch book will also include slides on the market overview, such as competitors performance, current trends & deals in the market.
Contents of a Sample Deal Pitch Book
- This book contains slides on specific details that make your firm look attractive and efficient. You may support this data with graphs showing the market growth rate, the firm’s positioning overview, and valuation summary, thus making a bold representation of the firm’s potential to serve the client.
- Depending on whether you are making a pitch report for M&A or IPOs, the deal-pitch book shall include not only a list of potential buyers, or possible acquisition candidates and financial sponsors, but also their detailed descriptions.
- The deal pitch book needs to be appended with relevant financial models, graphs, statistics, and league tables wherever necessary.
- And lastly, it summarizes the proposal and provides advice & recommendations, the bank’s role and contribution in attaining the client’s goals and timelines.
Contents of a Sample Management Presentation
- Since this type of pitch book is created for current clients rather than potential clients, it contains less quantitative data and is customized to be more client-specific.
- It focuses more on client company details, such as company highlights, products, and services, market overview, its customers, organizational chart, financial performance & growth prospects.
- Such presentations are made after thorough interaction with the client and regular feedback sessions.
Now let us study the art of writing a pitch book by using an investment bank pitch book example…
Assuming you are an Investment Banker and need to create a pitch book for a new client highlighting your firm’s critical competencies.
The first thing you need to remember is that the pitch book is like a salesman for your organization.
It needs to be immaculate, and professional, and at the same time, it should be convincing.
Then when you get to write the pitch book, I would like you to remember the following things and incorporate them into your pitch book format:
Structure:
- Highlight your strengths
- Show how you are different from the competition.
- Showcase the experience of the team
Length:
- Ideally, it should be between 10 to 20 pages/slides.
- It should be concise – you don’t need to detail everything.
- Preferably have one concept per page.
- Always use the appendix for backup.
Case Studies:
- Use appropriate case studies wherever possible.
Graphics:
- Use graphics to emphasize key points or strengths but do not overdo it.
Look and feel:
- Colors help to keep people’s attention but don’t make the document look like a festival of colors.
- Should be professional looking and leave a lasting impression
So now that you have understood the contents of a sample investment pitch book, finally I would like to emphasize that a pitch book is a “leave behind” document, which will be used as a reference point by the prospective clients.
So the pitch book must be as crisp as possible but, at the same time, showcases the core competencies of the Investment Bank.
Finally, there isn’t one right way to make a pitch book. You have to identify your key messages and differentiators and who the audience is and adapt your pitch book accordingly.
Pitch Book Template/ Example PDFs
- Pitch book US template
- JP Morgan Pitch Book
Now I’ve Got a Question for You…
How do you plan on using this post to write investment banking pitch books?
I’m sure you can see the potential the examples above have to improve your pitch book presentations.
It’s just a matter of applying the technique to your pitch book.
So I’d love to hear what you have to say.
Leave a comment below to let me know what you think.
Want to Create Top Quality Professional Investment Banking Pitch Books?
Breaking Into Wall Street (BIWS) is offering an excellent program on creating Pitch Books.
