Investment Banking – EMEA M&A Shareholder Activism – Associate – London

This is an exciting opportunity for someone who is highly motivated to work in a dynamic team and to contribute to our Investment Banking M&A business.

The EMEA M&A Shareholder Activism (SEMAC) team is a critical component of the firm’s globally integrated investment banking model and M&A practice. J.P. Morgan’s EMEA SEMAC team is expanding its mandate within the bank to include broader shareholder engagement and M&A Capital Markets advisory, while continuing to handle traditional shareholder activism and corporate defence. This role represents a unique opportunity to be involved in building the foundation of an entrepreneurial enterprise with significant senior sponsorship under J.P. Morgan’s world-class banner as part of our EMEA M&A team.  

You will play a central role in advising clients with respect to engaging with their shareholders and monitoring their trading activity, including shareholder activism. In addition, you will have great exposure in the vast majority of the major M&A transactions that take place in EMEA and in a group that consistently ranks as one of the EMEA's pre-eminent M&A advisory franchises.

You will work with expert professionals at the heart of a leading global investment bank and will get exposure to formal training, hands-on learning opportunities, continuous mentoring and feedback, and numerous development opportunities. You will develop strong skills in the major areas of investment banking and will be given the opportunity to develop into a senior officer who is capable of generating and executing his/her own transactions.

Job responsibilities 

• Create, maintain and review complex materials and analyses relating to shareholder activism, corporate governance and trading activity.  Analyses would include detailed financial analysis on companies assessing vulnerability to shareholder activism, shareholder base and trading analyses, preparing detailed attack and rebuttal analyses for corporate clients
• Manage day-to-day execution of advisory mandates, interacting with senior deal team members, client management teams, transaction counterparties and other advisors
• Work closely with the EMEA head of the practice to establish ongoing processes and procedures
• Possess and acquire superior market knowledge relating to developments in EMEA and international activist campaigns, shareholder engagement, governance best practices, proxy advisory firms, and be able to clearly articulate this knowledge to internal and external parties
• Develop proprietary knowledge and insights into trading activity and capital markets monitoring for clients
• Work independently, producing high quality deliverables such as attack and rebuttal materials for activist defence preparedness, investor presentations, fight letters, Board materials, merger arbitrage trading analyses and other presentation materials for use in strategic client dialogue or shareholder activism defence engagements (including activism with respect to M&A campaigns), while also helping advance the development of new and insightful tools to further drive strategic client dialogue
• Leverage the bank's resources on behalf of the client, including industry knowledge from partners in industry coverage groups and expertise from product partners in debt and equity capital markets and corporate finance advisory

Required qualifications, capabilities and skills 

• 5-7 full years of experience in Capital Markets, Investment Banking, Corporate Finance or Activism/Shareholder engagement related roles more broadly (e.g. Activist funds, specialised boutiques, etc.) is highly preferred
• Deep knowledge of corporate finance and accounting and a solid understanding of corporate charters, bylaws, and governance practices
• Ability to comfortably interact with clients and colleagues in a professional and mature manner
• Outstanding ethics, integrity, judgment, intellectual curiosity, strong work ethic and desire to learn
• Highly organized, detail oriented and proactive, with the ability to work in a fast-paced environment, handling multiple projects with different deal teams and tight deadlines
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills with specific ability to communicate concepts and ideas concisely and defend their validity
• Excellent technology skills with superior Excel and PowerPoint skills and ability to quickly learn new software applications

Preferred qualifications, capabilities and skills 

• In-depth understanding of investment banking products (can be enhanced and further built via training)
• Experience in M&A, activism & shareholder engagement, law or corporate governance is highly preferred, but will consider candidates on a case-by-case basis
• Experience in dealing with clients and other transactional advisers (can be enhanced and further built via training)
• Other qualifications such as CFA are encouraged

This role encompasses the performance of regulated activity. The successful candidate will therefore be subject to meeting regulatory requirements in the assessment of fitness, propriety, knowledge and competence (as assessed by the Firm) and (where appropriate) approval by the relevant regulatory authorities to carry out such activities.