What is Investment Banking?
Investment banking is the division of a financial institution that advises companies on major transactions — mergers and acquisitions (M&A), capital raises (IPOs, debt issuances), and restructurings. Unlike commercial banking (which takes deposits and makes loans), investment banks act as intermediaries and advisors, earning fees for helping companies buy other companies, sell themselves, or raise capital from investors. There are two main functions. Advisory (also called M&A) involves advising a company that wants to sell itself (sell-side), a company that wants to acquire another (buy-side), or both. Capital Markets involves helping companies raise money by issuing stocks (equity capital markets, or ECM) or bonds (debt capital markets, or DCM). The largest investment banks — Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America — have all of these capabilities, while boutique firms like Evercore, Lazard, and Centerview focus primarily on advisory. The investment banking team hierarchy runs from Analyst (1-3 years, builds models and presentations), to Associate (3-5 years, manages deal execution), to Vice President (manages client relationships and deal teams), to Managing Director (originates deals and owns client relationships). The work is intense, deadline-driven, and detail-oriented — a single error in a CIM or merger model can derail a multi-billion dollar transaction.How the Pieces Fit Together
A typical sell-side M&A process follows a structured sequence: the bank is engaged, a teaser is distributed anonymously to potential buyers, interested parties sign NDAs and receive the CIM (the detailed sales document), indications of interest are submitted and reviewed, shortlisted buyers attend management meetings and conduct diligence, final bids are submitted, and the deal moves toward signing and closing. Each stage has specific deliverables, and this plugin provides tools for every step.Plugin:
investment-banking · Version: 0.2.0 · Author: AnthropicCommands
/cim
Draft a Confidential Information Memorandum (CIM) for a sell-side M&A process — the key document that tells the company’s story to potential buyers.
/teaser
Create an anonymous one-page blind teaser to generate buyer interest before NDA execution.
/process-letter
Draft process letters and bid instructions for any stage of a sell-side process.
/buyer-list
Build a universe of potential strategic and financial acquirers, tiered and prioritized.
/merger-model
Build an accretion/dilution merger consequences analysis with sensitivity tables.
/one-pager
Create a one-page company strip profile for pitch books using a 4-quadrant layout.
/deal-tracker
Track live deals with milestones, action items, and weekly deal review summaries.
Skills
cim-builder
Structures and drafts a full CIM (40-60 pages) with executive summary, company overview, industry analysis, growth opportunities, customers, operations, and financials.
teaser
Drafts a one-page anonymous company profile with investment highlights, financial summary, and transaction overview — designed to generate buyer interest without revealing identity.
process-letter
Drafts IOI instructions, final bid procedures, and management meeting logistics for any stage of a sell-side process.
buyer-list
Builds a tiered universe of strategic buyers (direct competitors, adjacent players, vertical integrators, platform builders) and financial sponsors, with contact mapping for Tier 1.
merger-model
Builds a full accretion/dilution analysis with purchase price analysis, sources and uses, pro forma EPS, synergy sensitivity, cash/stock mix sensitivity, and breakeven synergy calculation.
strip-profile
Creates information-dense company profiles (1-4 slides) for pitch books using PptxGenJS, with quadrant layouts, embedded charts, and tables.
deal-tracker
Tracks multiple live deals with 18-milestone templates, action item lists, and weekly review summaries.
pitch-deck
Populates existing PowerPoint pitch deck templates with data from source files (Excel, CSV, PDF). Includes a 5-phase validation loop.
datapack-builder
Builds professional standardized financial data packs from CIMs, SEC filings, web search, or MCP servers. Produces 8-tab Excel workbooks.
Getting Started
Prepare sell-side materials
Start a new sell-side mandate with
/teaser [company] to draft the anonymous blind teaser, then /cim [company] to build out the full CIM.Build the buyer universe
Run
/buyer-list [company or sector] to generate a prioritized list of strategic and financial acquirers with tier ratings and contact mapping.Manage the process
Use
/process-letter [IOI or final bid] to draft process correspondence at each stage, and /deal-tracker to keep milestones and action items current.Output Formats
| Skill | Primary Output | Format |
|---|---|---|
| cim-builder | Confidential Information Memorandum | DOCX (40-60 pages) + Excel appendix |
| teaser | Anonymous one-page company teaser | DOCX / PDF / PPTX |
| process-letter | IOI / final bid / management meeting letter | DOCX |
| buyer-list | Tiered buyer universe with contact mapping | XLSX |
| merger-model | Accretion/dilution analysis | XLSX + one-page summary |
| strip-profile | Company strip profile | PPTX (1-4 slides) |
| deal-tracker | Deal pipeline and milestone tracker | XLSX + markdown summary |
| pitch-deck | Populated pitch deck template | PPTX |
| datapack-builder | Standardized financial data pack | XLSX (8 tabs) |