littlerobben10-hue/deal-case-study

Deal Case Study

Write the one-page account of a finished deal that goes into the credentials section of the next pitch. Its job is to make a prospective client think "they solved a problem like mine". A list of deal facts does not do that; a short story of problem, approach and result does.

Two versions come out of the same facts: an external credential that may be shown to clients, and an internal note on what the team learned. Keep them separate. Nothing from the internal note goes into the external one.

Workflow

1. Check what may be said. Before writing, ask:
   • Has the deal been publicly announced? If not, stop at an internal note.
   • Which terms are public (value, multiple, pricing, counterparties)? Only public terms, or terms the client has approved for disclosure, go in the external version.
   • Does the engagement letter allow the firm to cite the deal and use the client's name and logo? Mark anything unconfirmed as [CHECK DISCLOSURE] rather than leaving it out silently or putting it in.
2. Collect the facts listed under "Inputs". Take numbers from the announcement, the final terms or the pricing sheet, not from memory of the pitch. If two sources differ, ask.
3. Find the angle. In one sentence: what was difficult here, and what did the team do about it? Examples: a carve-out with no standalone accounts; a volatile window for pricing; a single credible buyer who needed competitive tension; a first-time issuer. If the user cannot name a difficulty, the case study will read as a tombstone — say so and offer the tombstone format instead.
4. Write the external credential in the format below. Past tense, plain verbs, numbers with units and dates.
5. Write the internal note. What worked, what did not, what to do differently, who the useful contacts were.
6. Suggest where it fits: which client situations and which sector or product pitches this credential supports.

Inputs

• Client, counterparty, the firm's role (sole / joint, sell-side / buy-side, bookrunner / co-manager)
• Dates: mandate, announcement or launch, signing or pricing, closing or settlement
• Size and the headline terms that are public
• Result measures, by deal type:
  • M&A — value, multiple, premium to undisturbed price, number of parties contacted / bids received, time from launch to signing
  • IPO / follow-on — size, pricing against the range, times covered, quality of the book, trading after one day and one month
  • Bonds — size, tenor, coupon, spread at pricing against initial guidance, book size, new issue concession
  • Structured — the client's objective, the structure in one line, the economic result against the alternative
• The client's situation and objective at the start
• What the team did that mattered

Output format

# [Client] — [what happened, in under twelve words]
[Month Year] · [Firm's role] · [Size]

**Situation.** Two or three sentences: who the client is, what they wanted, why it was not straightforward.

**What we did.** Three bullets at most. Each one an action and its reason, not a job title or a process step.

**Result.** Two or three numbers that show the outcome against a reference point
(the range, the guidance, the undisturbed price, the prior round, the alternative).

**Why it matters for you.** One sentence that generalises — the kind of client this applies to.

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Tombstone line: [Client] · [Transaction] · [Size] · [Role] · [Month Year]

Then, separately and clearly labelled Internal — not for clients:

- What worked
- What did not, and why
- What we would do differently
- Contacts and counterparties worth remembering
- Useful for pitching: [situations / sectors / products]

Rules

• A result needs a reference point. "Priced at 4.25%" tells the reader nothing; "priced 15 bp inside initial guidance" does.
• Do not claim credit for what the market did. If the window was simply good, say what the team did to use it.
• Do not disparage the counterparty, other advisers or the client's earlier decisions, in either version.
• No superlatives without a source ("largest", "first", "record"). If the claim is sourced, name the source and the date.
• Keep the external version to one page, roughly 150–200 words.

Limits

This skill writes from the facts supplied. It cannot verify what is public or what the engagement letter permits; the deal team and compliance decide what may be shown to clients.