Students runners-up in UBS Investment Banking Challenge

6 Jul 2018
UQ team at the UBS Investment Banking Challenge
UQ team at the UBS Investment Banking Challenge

A team of four students from The University of Queensland (UQ) recently placed as runners-up in the national finals of the 2018 UBS Investment Banking Challenge – the best performance in history for UQ in the competition! The finals were held at the UBS Melbourne Office with the teams presenting their recommendations to a panel of senior UBS investment bankers.

The prestigious competition invites Australia’s leading universities to compete with over 400 teams involved in this year’s competition. The UQ team, known as Artemis Advisory, consisted of Andrew Kilner, Nicole Steemson, Nigel Turay and Rene Arunakumaren.

“The competition, while demanding, allowed us to obtain invaluable experience working on a real-life transaction and helped foster our interest in mergers and acquisitions”, said Rene.

Students were asked to analyse the merits of the $11 billion merger of Tabcorp and Tatts Group. Artemis Advisory provided a recommendation to both the company board’s with proposals relating to the merger transaction. In the finals, teams were tasked with advising Tatts Group in response to a counter-bid from a consortium consisting of Macquarie, First State Superannuation Scheme, Morgan Stanley Infrastructure and KKR.

“The number of moving parts in the transaction was at times overwhelming, we were forced to consistently think critically about possible scenarios that could jeopardize the deal,” said Nigel.

The presentations were followed by an evening reception where students heard from individuals who had worked on the real-life transaction, including Chairman of Tabcorp, Paula O’Dwyer.

This year’s UBS participants will serve as important contributors to the UQ Business School’s StEER committee who aim to expand student participation in extra-curricular activities in order to increase employability skills. StEER will play a major role in supporting future participation in external competitions.

Latest