Learning the Basics of Investment Banking Pitch Books

Investment banks and firms make use of ‘pitch books’ to secure potential clients. Technically, it’s defined as a marketing device that goes into detail about the attributes and services of a firm. Most investment analysts who are tasked to create pitch books make use of PowerPoint. For this reason, the term ‘pitch book’ can also refer to PowerPoint presentations created to attract new clients.

Making investment banking pitch books can be easily become daunting. It requires a lot of careful preparation and attention to detail. Delve into the basics of making these pitch books to get started.

Three Types:

There are several types of investment banking pitch books, differentiated depending on purpose and content. We can categorize them into three types:

1. Market Overviews/Bank Introductions

Purpose: This type of pitch book is used to introduce your bank/firm to potential clients, and to give them updates on recent market trends and deals.

Content: Information about that will help form a favorable impression to potential clients, such as:

Background and history
Vision and mission,
Organizational structure
Company size
Recent achievements and successful deals
Market overview/update

2. Deal Pitch Book

Purpose: The deal pitch book is made specifically for a particular deal, such as IPOs, debt issuance, and M&A (mergers and acquisitions).

Content: Details that will allow potential clients to see how well you operate. Include data that will support your claims. This might include the following:

Market growth rate
Relevant financial models
List of potential buyers, acquisition candidates, and financial sponsors with detailed descriptions (if applicable)

3. Management Presentations

Purpose: Management presentations are used to pitch newly-secured clients to investors.

Content: Important info about your client company that will allow investors to become familiar with them. Include their—

Background
Market overview
Products and services
Customers
Organizational chart
Financial performance
Expansion and growth opportunities

There are also sub-types that go into more specific purposes. Some of these types are the combo/scenario analysis pitch book, fairness opinions, and client update presentations.

Turning data into a PowerPoint

Keep in mind that regardless of the type of pitch book you’re making, your presentation must contain all of the following:

A title slide containing the date of the presentation, a general description of the content of your pitch, and your firm’s or client’s logo;
A table of contents completely listing all the different sections in your presentation; and
Slides that contain salient points and figures presented through graphs/diagrams.

PowerPoint presentations in the investment banking industry follow a different set of conventions and are more formal. There are certain things you can’t include that someone in the creative industry might tell you to add. You don’t have to include animations or transition effects.

Graphics should only be added to emphasize your key points. Color schemes should be kept simple and professional-looking.

The Final Word

While the length of a pitch book varies for each situation, it should typically be around 10-20 slides. This means you have to be critical of the information you’ll include. It’s important that you’re concise so you don’t end up with a pitch book that is tediously long and garbled.

Organize your content by allotting one slide per concept you have to discuss. You can use an appendix to expound on these concepts with additional tables, models, and the like.

There really isn’t one formulaic way to make an investment banking pitch book. Much of the work depends on various factors, like your company culture or who you’ll be pitching to.

What you should remember is that a pitch book is responsible for driving business into your firm.