Financial Modelling for Acquisition Transactions
Build an acquisition model from screening to exit: the debt and equity structure, valuation, returns and investment ratios behind an M&A transaction.
- 2 daysLed by a practitioner trainer
- Hands-onYou build the model yourself
- Two formatsIn person or live online
- Take awayYou keep the model and templates
Who this course is for
For investment banks, private equity and corporate finance teams who need to assess the risks and opportunities in a proposed transaction, not only review someone else’s model. You need working confidence in Excel. The course builds the modelling methodology from first principles, so no prior financial modelling course is needed.
You will get the most from it if you:
- Assess acquisitions for an investment bank, private equity firm or corporate development team
- Need to build the debt and equity structure of a deal, not only its operating assumptions
- Want a repeatable way to evaluate returns for management, sponsors and lenders
- Want practical grounding in exit analysis: exit date, exit multiple and scenarios
What you will learn
Eight modules take you from modelling methodology through an integrated three-way model and an acquisition debt facility to exit analysis.
Modelling technique
- Use one clear, easy-to-follow modelling methodology
- Compare good and bad technique on real examples
- Make calculation and presentation consistent
The lifecycle of a model
- Set a flexible timing structure
- Use binary flags to simplify model structure and formulas
- Set the design flow of the model, from screening and structuring to exit
Operations forecasts
- The case study, and how to build the target company’s operating cash flows
- Build revenue with detailed pricing controls
- Model fixed and variable operating costs and a capital expenditure breakdown
Working capital forecasting
- Model debtor and creditor accounts
- Common errors, and how to integrate the forecast into a developed model
Acquisition debt facility
- Build the acquisition capital structure, with the adjustments the target’s balance sheet needs
- Integrate the acquisition debt facility and size it on a flexible gearing input
- Build a schedule of forecast interest margins
- Calculate debt metrics, including the debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) and senior debt to EBITDA, with checks against covenants
PP&E and depreciation
- Replace cumbersome tables, with switches for several depreciation methods
- Replicate the calculations for accounting and tax depreciation
Financial statement construction
- Build three-way financial statements, and the accounting concepts that keep the balance sheet balancing
- Test and debug the integrated statements as you go
- How a well-built cash flow waterfall avoids circularity in complex models
Returns and exit
- Internal rate of return (IRR) and net present value (NPV), and the role of the discount rate
- NPV and XNPV, and the common errors in using them
- Test exit options by flexing exit date and exit multiple
- Build data tables for stakeholders, and save time with our approach to scenario management
Upcoming acquisition modelling course dates
Booking for three or more, or need another location? Group and relationship discounts, remote places and new locations are available on request: send an enquiry.
Prices exclude taxes. Australian GST is added at checkout. UK and European VAT is added where it applies.
How the course runs
Interactive and instructor-led, on one modelling standard taught to more than 20,000 people. You build the model yourself, with individual coaching through every exercise, and you keep the completed files.
This course also runs privately. See in-house training for a course built around your team and sector, or browse the full course list.
Why modelling skills matter in the AI era
AI makes understanding how models are built more important, not less.
As AI becomes increasingly capable of helping build financial models, modellers need the skills to understand and challenge what it produces. This course teaches you how a robust financial model should be structured and built from first principles, giving you the judgement to interrogate AI-generated models, identify weaknesses and challenge the outputs rather than simply accepting them.
Our trainers
Our courses are led by members of our financial modelling and model audit teams. The trainers below run this course often, but any member of the team may lead your course.
Joshua Grimm
Director, Singapore
Joshua leads the development and delivery of our financial modelling courses in Asia. He models large-scale renewable energy, utilities and infrastructure projects, and builds corporate finance models for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and internal financial planning. He has supported clients from feasibility through financial close and into operations.
Ben Kwan
Partner, Sydney
Ben is a Partner at Forvis Mazars, leading APAC Model Audit, where he reviews models to support clients on bid submissions, financing processes and internal governance requirements. He is an experienced financial modeller with a background in transaction teams and as a lead financial modeller in industry, and has built a wide range of models across many sectors.
Keshav Rana
Associate Director, London
Keshav manages our financial modelling training across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). He has worked on models for renewables (mainly solar and wind), utilities and telecoms projects, and on corporate, portfolio forecasting and valuation models. He now develops and delivers our courses, including courses built for a client’s own needs.
Questions about this course
Do I need financial modelling experience?
No. You need working confidence in Excel. The course builds the modelling methodology from first principles before applying it to a full acquisition model.
Is the course in person or online?
Both. It runs in person in major cities and live online. The upcoming dates show every location and format.
What do I need to bring?
In person: a laptop with a recent version of Excel. Course files, materials and catering are provided. Online: a computer with a recent version of Excel; we send the course files in advance. Either way, you leave with a fully working model, the templates and a certificate of completion, which can be used towards CPD.
What do I keep after the course?
The model you build and the templates, with coaching through every exercise.
Can you run this course for my team?
Yes. Any course can be delivered privately at your offices or online, built around your sector and your transactions. In-house delivery is priced per day, so the cost per person falls as more people join. Send an enquiry.
Do prices include tax?
No. Prices are shown before tax. Australian GST is added at checkout, and UK and European VAT is added where it applies. Group and relationship discounts are available on request.
Where to go next
Financial Modelling for Corporate Finance takes the same three-way model into valuation. Deal Model to Operational Model Mastery covers what happens after the deal closes.
Financial Modelling for Corporate Finance
Integrated three-statement models for any finance team: working capital, funding, DCF valuation, WACC and scenario analysis.
View full course details: Financial Modelling for Corporate Finance
Financial Modelling for Real Estate Investment
Real estate models from a single asset to a portfolio: rental income, portfolio debt, valuation and investor returns.
View full course details: Financial Modelling for Real Estate Investment
Deal Model to Operational Model Mastery
One day on converting a deal model into an operational model: actuals, signed debt terms and testing the forecast.
View full course details: Deal Model to Operational Model Mastery
Financial Model Review
One day on reviewing a model you did not build: where errors hide, inspection, analytical review and a real case-study model.
Book this course
Dates, prices and online booking are on the course schedule. Not sure it is the right course? Ask us.