Prepping for M&A interviews but textbook examples feel too clean. Want to practice accretion/dilution analysis on deals with messy realities - synergy disputes, mixed financing, or hidden liabilities. Do associates share actual deal templates or scenario guides? How did you bridge the gap between theory and execution?
spoiler: real models are just excel garbage with 200 tabs. they’ll test you on textbook perfect cases anyway. memorize the basic eps formulas and pray they dont ask about tax implications – nobody actually knows those.
following! need this too. tried reverse-engineering a pharma deal from news articles but got stuck on contingent payments… 
When I interviewed at GS, they gave me a case where the target had crazy pension liabilities. Totally threw me off! Now I always scan for off-balance sheet items first. Maybe ask alumni about their ‘stump the chump’ scenarios?
Study recent mid-market deals - they often have complex earnouts and financing mixes. Focus on three key levers: purchase price allocation, interest expense assumptions, and pro forma capitalization. I can share a simplified energy sector case study if you DM me.