CFA Level I · CPA · CA
Working at the intersection of M&A, valuation and investment analysis. Four-plus years at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in capital markets advisory and audit sit behind the modeling.
My path into finance has not been linear and I've come to think of that as the advantage. Four years at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in Mumbai, across Capital Markets and Accounting Advisory and audit, put me in the room for technical work most peers haven't seen: an IFRS to US GAAP conversion and SEC filing readiness for a $34B Irish-listed industrials group, an IFRS transition for a $2B Saudi conglomerate and an embedded role inside a $20B UK telecom group's month-end close. The work taught me how financial statements actually behave under pressure.
The MS Finance program at UIUC Gies sharpened that foundation against the deal side. I built DCFs and LBOs on real tickers, modeled synergies and defended price targets to professors who had seen every assumption before. That same instinct now runs through my work as a Finance Associate at Aorbis Inc., where I lead monthly close, working capital diagnostics and the financial planning behind a new service launch. In parallel, I am working through the BIWS Advanced M&A Modeling certificate, which has me building merger models on real public deals end to end. The accounting rigor and the investment lens both stay in play.
What I am building toward is a seat in investment banking, M&A advisory, equity research or financial due diligence. The kind of work where the analysis has to defend itself, where a synergy figure or a price target has to hold up under questioning. The right answer is usually the one that survives the scrutiny.
Working through Breaking Into Wall Street's Advanced M&A Modeling certificate, applied to a case study on Builders FirstSource's $2.6B acquisition of BMC Stock Holdings. Built a full merger model including purchase price allocation, combined financial statements, synergies, integration costs and accretion / dilution analysis, then tested the original 100% stock proposal against a recommended mixed cash, debt and stock structure. The 100% stock structure produced a weighted average cost of acquisition of 9.1% against BMC's 6.4% yield, leaving the deal dilutive in three of four years even with full synergies. The recommended mixed structure compressed cost of acquisition to 6.9% and produced 10 to 22% pro-forma EPS accretion across the four-year window. Recommended proceeding with the deal at a defensible 10.3x LTM EV / EBITDA multiple, but rejecting the all-stock financing.
Hypothetical strategic acquisition of Lululemon Athletica Inc. by Nike Inc. Valued Lululemon using DCF, trading comparables and precedent transactions. Modeled three synergy scenarios discounted at 11.4%, ran exchange ratio sensitivities and EPS accretion / dilution analysis under cash-plus-debt vs. all-stock structures. Recommended cash and debt financing over all-stock to preserve EPS upside and keep post-deal leverage at investment-grade levels.
Triangulated SpartanNash Company's intrinsic value using DCF, trading comparables and precedent transactions. Built a 5-year sponsor LBO, then evaluated a potential acquisition by United Natural Foods (UNFI). Recommended deferring strategic action by one to two years until UNFI hit its 2.5x leverage target and SpartanNash strengthened operational performance.
Translated a machine-learning macro forecast into sector and stock selection. The model, a Random Forest trained on ISM PMI and CPI data, identified a stagflationary regime. From that signal, I built coverage on three defensive names with full investment thesis, scenario DCF and downside cases. The lead BUY thesis on DT Midstream rested on its 70% pipeline EBITDA mix, $2.3B project backlog and inflation-protected fee-based contracts.
Constructed 10-year DCF models for Lennox International Inc. and Trane Technologies plc with company-specific WACC, sensitized across revenue growth, margin and capex. Cross-validated through EV / EBITDA, P / E comparables and ROIC analysis. Concluded Trane offered the better risk-adjusted setup given backlog visibility and innovation pipeline; Lennox screened high-quality but materially overvalued.
Evaluated financing alternatives for ServiceNow Inc.'s $1.5B UK AI infrastructure investment. Modeled debt capacity, credit rating impact and WACC sensitivity across leverage scenarios. Built a scenario-based DCF and benchmarked against mega-cap software peers. Concluded the market price already reflected optimistic growth assumptions, with downside risk if AI execution slipped.
Whether you are hiring for a deal team, a research desk or a transaction services role, I would be glad to talk through a fit.
devanshtshah@gmail.com