Ion Equity
I worked alongside Daniel O'Donohoe in Ion Equity from the 4th to the 8th of December. The office was situated on Pembroke Street, opposite Fitzwilliam Square. Ion Equity is a private equity firm that buy and sell companies, they also invest in companies. I didn't really know what a private equity company did, I knew the basics and that was it.
On Monday the 4th, Daniel collected me from the school and brought me to the office. During the car journey we talked a little bit about what he does and what is involved in private equity. We also discussed my targets for the end of the week. The processes of acquiring or selling a company was on my list to learn, we talked about it quite a bit but it was only until Thursday that I fully understood it. I learned what a leverage buy out was, and how to figure out the EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation). Monday was just a brief introduction to private equity, I read a lot of different documents, offers letters, valuation documents, information memorandums, due diligence process and legal documents. Tuesday I was still not fully understanding everything about this job. I was starting to gain a better understanding but I was not quite there yet. I did learn about the due diligence process, it requires four steps: market due diligence, financial due diligence, commercial due diligence, legal and environmental due diligence.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were the days that I learned a lot more about private equity. On Wednesday Daniel got me to do market and company research for him. He taught me a lot about researching the right company, for example if the directors or big share holders are old they might be looking towards retirement. I was a lot a lot harder than I thought it would be but it was also very fun. I also learned about leverage buy outs and how to solve EBITDA. These are two of the most important processes into figuring out the equity. Thursday I wrote out the processes of acquiring a company. There are about 8 steps but in each step there are more little steps. Free cash flow (FCF) was another important thing as it's how you judge how a company is doing. Free cash flow is the money you use to service bank dept. Friday was my final day in the office. I had to be in thirty minutes early as Daniel had a comference call that he wanted me to listen into. I wanted to learn as much as possible on my last day, so I finished scanning folders and then starting reading some legal documents. The key points he wanted me to learn in these lagal documents was, the sale and purchase of the shares, warranties and restrictive covenants. The basic buy out model was the most important thing I had learnt all week, as it shows you how much you should pay for the company.
This week has really given me a great insight into what private equity is like, I do think that it would be job that I would like to do in the future. The only downside is all the paperwork, but the rest of the job is interesting and never gets boring.
On Monday the 4th, Daniel collected me from the school and brought me to the office. During the car journey we talked a little bit about what he does and what is involved in private equity. We also discussed my targets for the end of the week. The processes of acquiring or selling a company was on my list to learn, we talked about it quite a bit but it was only until Thursday that I fully understood it. I learned what a leverage buy out was, and how to figure out the EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation). Monday was just a brief introduction to private equity, I read a lot of different documents, offers letters, valuation documents, information memorandums, due diligence process and legal documents. Tuesday I was still not fully understanding everything about this job. I was starting to gain a better understanding but I was not quite there yet. I did learn about the due diligence process, it requires four steps: market due diligence, financial due diligence, commercial due diligence, legal and environmental due diligence.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were the days that I learned a lot more about private equity. On Wednesday Daniel got me to do market and company research for him. He taught me a lot about researching the right company, for example if the directors or big share holders are old they might be looking towards retirement. I was a lot a lot harder than I thought it would be but it was also very fun. I also learned about leverage buy outs and how to solve EBITDA. These are two of the most important processes into figuring out the equity. Thursday I wrote out the processes of acquiring a company. There are about 8 steps but in each step there are more little steps. Free cash flow (FCF) was another important thing as it's how you judge how a company is doing. Free cash flow is the money you use to service bank dept. Friday was my final day in the office. I had to be in thirty minutes early as Daniel had a comference call that he wanted me to listen into. I wanted to learn as much as possible on my last day, so I finished scanning folders and then starting reading some legal documents. The key points he wanted me to learn in these lagal documents was, the sale and purchase of the shares, warranties and restrictive covenants. The basic buy out model was the most important thing I had learnt all week, as it shows you how much you should pay for the company.
This week has really given me a great insight into what private equity is like, I do think that it would be job that I would like to do in the future. The only downside is all the paperwork, but the rest of the job is interesting and never gets boring.