Home>1st Place for Sciences Po students in Société Générale's M&A Corporate Finance Competition

03.12.2019

1st Place for Sciences Po students in Société Générale's M&A Corporate Finance Competition

On 27 November, five students of Sciences Po’s School of Management & Innovation came in first place at the final round of the Société Générale’s M&A Corporate Finance Competition. It was the competition’s 2nd edition, in which students Ahmad El Saadi, Caroline Langlumé, Maxence Jaboulet-Vercherre, Léopold Matarrese and Nabilla Koukouch represented Sciences Po against top-tier business schools including HEC Paris, ESSEC, ESCP Europe, emlyon, EDHEC Business School and Université Paris Dauphine.

Among the initial 40 contending teams, seven were selected to represent their schools at the final round which took place at Société Générale’s global headquarters. The Sciences Po team pitched a cross-border takeover bid on a retail company to a board of Global Heads and Managing Directors at Société Générale, providing a detailed analysis of the target including a company valuation, an estimation of potential synergies, as well as a market analysis and a mapping of potential buyers.

Cyril Paolantoni, Managing Director and Global Co-Head of Consumer Retail Luxury, expressed his joy in welcoming teams from the most prestigious French business schools:

"2019 was the second year of the “Gaming Inter Ecole” by Société Générale. Once again, we were very happy to give students of the top 7 business schools in France the opportunity to have this first-hand experience in the banking world. We believe that this M&A case presented to a professional jury of investment bankers provides an essential training in corporate finance. This year, we were very impressed by the quality in this competition, both for the content of the analyses and the professionalism of the presentations. It seems students really understood that theoretical analysis is necessary, but not sufficient to catch a prestigious M&A mandate, especially in a world of fierce competition among advisory offices.”

The Sciences Po team was ranked first unanimously among members of the jury.

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