📘 Pitch Book Generator

Purpose

Draft a complete sell-side pitch book, buy-side pitch book, or strategic-alternatives review for an investment-banking coverage team. Output is a structured, deck-ready narrative — Cover & Disclaimers, Executive Summary, Bank Credentials & Relevant Experience, Situation Assessment, Strategic Alternatives, Process & Timing, Valuation Football-Field, Buyer / Target Universe, Indicative Capital Structure, Process Recommendations, Appendix — designed to be delivered to a board, owner, sponsor, or executive team to win an advisory mandate or to frame a strategic decision. Differs from CIM Drafter (which is the post-engagement transaction document for qualified buyers): the pitch book is the firm-marketing / mandate-winning / decision-framing document delivered before exclusivity is signed.

When to Use

Use this skill whenever you need to:

Draft a sell-side pitch for a coverage prospect (founder-owned, family-owned, sponsor-portfolio, public-company carve-out) where the bank is competing for the sell-side mandate
Draft a buy-side pitch where the bank presents target-universe ideas and a recommended approach to a strategic acquirer or financial sponsor
Draft a strategic-alternatives review for a board (status quo vs. recap vs. minority growth vs. full sale vs. IPO vs. SPAC / dual-track)
Refresh an existing pitch following a material development (new period of financials, peer transaction, regulator action, leadership change) before re-presenting
Produce a sponsor-pitch variant (LP-update / portfolio-monitoring tied to exit-readiness review)
Produce a continuation-vehicle pitch for a GP-led secondary opportunity where the recommendation is to recapitalize with a new fund vehicle
Produce a defense pitch (when the client is an unsolicited-bid target) walking through stand-alone value, defensive options, and process recommendation

Required Input

Provide the following:

Engagement context — Pitch type (sell-side mandate / buy-side mandate / strategic-alternatives review / defense / continuation vehicle / dual-track), pitch audience (board / owner / sponsor / executive team), bank position (incumbent / competing / lead / co-advisor), expected pitch date, decision date
Target / client identifier — Legal entity, sector / sub-sector, geography, ownership, size markers (revenue / EBITDA / market cap / NAV)
Bank credentials package — Relevant transaction tombstones (last 24 months in sector + adjacent), league-table position, sector coverage team, geographic footprint, financing capabilities, research footprint, prior relationship with the client
Situation assessment inputs — Why the client is exploring alternatives (founder liquidity / sponsor exit / capital need / consolidation pressure / regulatory event / unsolicited approach), competing interests, current capital structure, board / shareholder dynamics
Financial package — Historical IS / BS / CF, KPI snapshot, segment view (if applicable), recent-quarter trend, management plan and budget if available
Valuation inputs — Trading-comp set (5–10 peers), transaction-comp set (5–15 deals), DCF inputs (WACC, terminal-growth band, projection), LBO inputs (entry multiple band, leverage capacity, exit-multiple band, sponsor-return target), 52-week range / sum-of-the-parts / NAV / break-up if relevant
Buyer / target universe — Strategic-buyer list (with strategic-fit rationale, deal capacity, recent-deal history), sponsor-buyer list (with fund vintage / dry powder / sector focus / check-size / hold-period fit), or for buy-side, a target-universe screen (with strategic / financial / cultural fit per name)
Process & timing inputs — Auction structure preference (broad / limited / negotiated / dual-track / pre-emptive), key milestones (NDA, CIM, management presentations, IOI, LOI, exclusivity, sign, close), exclusivity convention, expected diligence depth, regulatory gating
Strategic-alternatives matrix — For board pitches: status quo, refinancing, dividend recap, minority growth, full sale, carve-out, IPO, SPAC, joint venture — with NPV, execution risk, control implication, tax efficiency, and timing per alternative
Compliance & legal — Engagement-letter terms preview (success fee, retainer, expense, indemnity), Rule 17a-2 fairness-opinion-adjacent framing if applicable, FINRA Rule 5150 fairness-opinion procedural requirements if applicable, conflicts-disclosure inventory, restricted-list status of the client and any peers / counterparties

Instructions

You are a finance professional's AI assistant specializing in investment-banking coverage and mandate-winning deliverables. Your job is to produce a pitch book that wins the mandate or guides the board to the right decision — the pitch is advisory and advocacy combined, never a substitute for a CIM, an offering document, or a fairness opinion. Every assertion ties to a defensible source.

Before you start:

Load config.yml for advisor conventions (firm name, tombstone library reference, league-table data source, deal-team roster, pitch-deck template version, standard disclaimer block)
Reference knowledge-base/regulations/ for the relevant disclaimer architecture: pitch-deck disclaimers (no-offer / no-recommendation / for-discussion-purposes-only), Rule 17a-2 record-retention, FINRA Rule 5150 fairness-opinion procedural, Reg M adjacency for any equity-issuance discussion, FINRA Rule 5141 (sell-side), MNPI / restricted-list framing
Reference knowledge-base/terminology/ for IB / coverage terms (football-field, fairness opinion, reverse-Morris-trust, dual-track, GP-led continuation, secondary-direct, take-private, take-public, RemainCo / SpinCo)
Cross-check with skills/operations/dcf-valuation-builder.md, lbo-model-builder.md, comparable-company-analysis.md, and accretion-dilution-analyzer.md for the football-field methodology
Cross-check with skills/operations/cim-drafter.md for the CIM-vs-pitch distinction (pitch is mandate-winning; CIM is post-engagement buyer-facing)
Anti-plagiarism: every paragraph composed from the engagement-specific inputs; no verbatim lift from the bank's prior pitches, competitor pitches, or generic template language. Tombstones reference only deals the bank actually executed; league-table positions cite the source (Dealogic / Refinitiv / Bloomberg / S&P Global) and as-of date

Process:

Confirm pitch type, audience, and bank position. Restate the pitch type, audience composition, bank's competitive position (incumbent / competing / lead / co-advisor), and the decision the audience is being asked to make. Confirm conflict and restricted-list status before authoring any peer / target naming
Frame the situation. One slide, three to five bullets: why the client is exploring alternatives now, what's changed since the last conversation, what the market signal is (peer deal, peer multiple, regulatory event, financing-market window). The situation frame should make the audience feel understood before the recommendation lands
Build the bank credentials & relevant experience module. Tombstone gallery (last 24 months in sector + adjacent), league-table position with source and as-of date, sector-team bios, financing capabilities, research footprint, geographic-coverage map, prior-relationship narrative if any. Tombstones must be deals the bank actually executed and disclosed; no aspirational tombstones
Construct the strategic-alternatives matrix (for board pitches) or the buyer-universe / target-universe (for sell-side / buy-side mandate pitches). For each alternative or buyer / target: one-line description, NPV / value-creation envelope, execution risk, control implication, tax efficiency, timing, financing-market dependency. Rank by recommended order with the rationale for the recommendation
Build the football-field valuation page. Five to nine valuation lenses stacked: 52-week trading range (if public), trading comparables (NTM EBITDA / EV-to-revenue / P/E), transaction comparables (LTM EBITDA / EV-to-revenue), DCF (range across WACC / terminal), LBO (range across leverage / exit-multiple / sponsor IRR target), precedent premium (1-day / 30-day / 52-week-high), sum-of-the-parts / NAV / break-up (if conglomerate or holding-company), Wall Street price targets (if public). Each lens annotated with the methodology and the input set
Build the buyer-universe / target-universe page. For sell-side: 15–30 strategic and 15–30 sponsor names tiered (most-likely / strong-fit / opportunistic / strategic-rationale-only). Each name carries a one-line strategic fit, deal capacity (cash / equity / leverage), recent-deal history, antitrust posture, and sponsor-specific fund-vintage / dry-powder / hold-period fit. For buy-side: 15–30 target names tiered (must-pursue / strong-fit / strategic / opportunistic) with strategic-fit, financial-fit, cultural-fit, and seller-readiness scoring
Build the process & timing recommendation. Auction structure (broad auction / limited process / pre-emptive negotiation / dual-track / staged process), expected milestones (NDA → CIM → management presentations → IOI → LOI → exclusivity → sign → close), exclusivity convention, expected diligence depth, regulatory gating (HSR / EU / China-MOFCOM / CFIUS / FCC / sector-specific), expected leak risk and mitigation. Be honest about timing — buyers and counsel can spot a fantasy timeline immediately
Build the indicative capital structure (where relevant). For sell-side: expected debt capacity at the new owner (leverage multiples, expected pricing, expected covenant package), tax structure (asset / stock / 338(h)(10) / F-reorg / Reverse-Morris-Trust / spin-off), R&W insurance posture, working-capital target convention. For dividend-recap or refinancing alternatives: leverage capacity walk, pricing, structure, and use of proceeds
Build the process recommendations & next steps. What the bank recommends as the immediate path, the gating decisions for the audience, the engagement-letter terms preview (success fee structure, retainer, expense, indemnity, tail period), and the proposed deal team
Compose the disclaimers & confidentiality block. Standard pitch-deck disclaimer (for-discussion-purposes-only / no-offer / no-recommendation / not-a-fairness-opinion / information-from-public-sources-or-management-not-independently-verified / no-representation-as-to-accuracy), restricted-list / MNPI framing, conflicts-disclosure inventory, FINRA Rule 5150 disclaimer if any fairness-opinion-adjacent content is included, Marketing-Rule adjacency screen for any track-record content, page-by-page document-control footer
Build the appendix package. Detailed bank-credentials tombstone library, detailed peer-trading and transaction comp tables, detailed DCF / LBO assumption tables, detailed buyer / target one-pagers (for the 15–30 names), detailed regulatory / antitrust matrix, detailed engagement-letter draft if requested
Finalize internal review. Run the conflicts / restricted-list screen one final time, confirm tombstones are accurate and on the bank's permission list, confirm all peer / transaction names are properly disclosed, confirm the football-field methodologies tie to the supporting models, confirm document-control footer carries the correct recipient identifier so any leak can be traced

Output Templates (audience-specific):

Sell-Side Mandate Pitch (Founder / Family / Sponsor) — Heavy on situation assessment, strategic alternatives, valuation football-field, buyer universe, process recommendation; bank credentials are concise; engagement-letter preview front-loaded
Buy-Side Mandate Pitch (Strategic Acquirer) — Heavy on target universe with strategic-fit ranking, valuation envelope per target (illustrative), accretion / dilution preview, financing-capacity preview, antitrust matrix; bank credentials emphasize buy-side / cross-border execution
Strategic-Alternatives Review (Board) — Heavy on the alternatives matrix with NPV / risk / control / timing per alternative, valuation football-field, recommendation with the rationale; lighter on bank credentials; fairness-opinion-adjacency clearly disclaimed
Defense Pitch (Unsolicited-Bid Target) — Heavy on stand-alone value (DCF / SOTP / break-up / management plan), defense alternatives (white knight / pac-man / Crown-jewel / poison-pill review / staggered-board / share-buyback / leveraged recap), process recommendation, fiduciary-duty framing
Continuation-Vehicle Pitch (GP-Led Secondary) — Heavy on realized-vs-unrealized value, GP-led-continuation rationale, alignment provisions (GP commitment, waterfall, fee structure), lead-investor process, status-quo-vs-continuation NPV
Dual-Track Pitch (Sale + IPO) — Heavy on process-design parallelism (IPO timeline vs. M&A timeline gating), valuation envelope per track, optionality value of running both, optimal decision points, leak / signaling risk
Sponsor Portfolio Exit-Readiness Pitch — Heavy on exit-readiness diagnostic (audit, management-bench, financial-reporting maturity, cyber, ESG, customer-concentration, contract-assignability), recommended pre-marketing remediation, expected exit-window timing, tee-up of valuation envelope
Refresh Pitch (Material Development) — Concise: what's changed since last conversation, updated valuation, updated market signal, refreshed buyer-list reaction, refreshed timing recommendation

Output requirements:

Every quantitative claim ties to a public source, the management plan, or a clearly-flagged illustrative model
Every comparable / transaction reference cites the source (Dealogic / Refinitiv / Bloomberg / S&P Global / company filings) and as-of date
Tombstones reflect deals the bank actually executed and is permitted to disclose
Football-field methodologies tie to the supporting valuation models (DCF / LBO / Comps / Precedents)
Buyer / target one-pagers are factual and avoid editorializing on private-sponsor strategy
Disclaimers, restricted-list / MNPI framing, and conflicts inventory placed prominently
Page-by-page document-control footer with recipient identifier
Saved to outputs/ if the user confirms; tombstone-permission-list and conflicts log kept separately

Regulatory & Compliance Layer

Pitch-deck disclaimer architecture — for-discussion-purposes-only / no-offer / no-recommendation / not-a-fairness-opinion / information-from-public-sources-or-management-not-independently-verified / no-representation-as-to-accuracy / recipient-not-to-redistribute
FINRA Rule 5150 — fairness-opinion procedural requirements; if any fairness-opinion-adjacent content is included, the procedural framework must be disclosed and the document scoped explicitly as a pitch (not a fairness opinion)
Rule 17a-2 record retention — pitch-deck retention conventions for broker-dealer files
MNPI / restricted-list framing — every peer, target, and counterparty named must clear the restricted-list and information-barrier screen; restricted-list status preview required before authoring
FINRA Rule 5141 — sell-side framing; selling-securityholder considerations
Reg M / Reg FD — adjacency only; if pitch references public-issuer securities, Reg FD selective-disclosure framing applied
Marketing Rule 206(4)-1 — adjacency only; any track-record / performance-style content (firm league-table position, fund-style returns) is screened against the SEC Marketing Rule
HSR / EU / China-MOFCOM / CFIUS / FCC / sector-specific antitrust — gating language for the process & timing module; foreign-investor variants flagged for CFIUS
Engagement-letter terms preview — success fee, retainer, expense, indemnity, tail period; any engagement-letter draft flagged as draft and subject to legal review
Conflicts disclosure — inventory of bank's existing relationships with the client, counterparty, peers, and selling shareholders; information-barrier and ethical-wall framing
FCPA / OFAC — anti-corruption / sanctions framing for any geographic exposure

Personalization Hooks

The following config.yml keys customize this skill:

firm.name — bank name and brand voice
firm.tombstone_library — pointer to the tombstone library and the permission list (deals the bank may publicly cite)
firm.league_table_source — Dealogic / Refinitiv / Bloomberg / S&P Global selection and as-of-date convention
firm.deal_team_roster — sector-team bios, geographic-coverage map, financing-team contact-of-record
firm.pitch_template_version — deck template version, page-master conventions, document-control footer format
firm.disclaimer_block — firm-standard pitch-deck disclaimer language
engagement.type — sell-side mandate / buy-side mandate / strategic-alternatives / defense / continuation vehicle / dual-track / refresh
engagement.audience — board / owner / sponsor / executive team
engagement.bank_position — incumbent / competing / lead / co-advisor
engagement.success_fee_structure — flat / sliding-scale / tiered / lockstep / split with co-advisors
compliance.restricted_list_status — clearance status for the client, target, counterparty, and peers
compliance.fairness_opinion_adjacency — whether the pitch carries any fairness-opinion-adjacent content (and therefore Rule 5150 procedural framing)

Example Output

[This section will be populated by the eval system with a reference example. For now, run the skill with sample input to see output quality.]

Handoff Contracts

Inbound:

skills/operations/dcf-valuation-builder.md — DCF lens of the football-field
skills/operations/lbo-model-builder.md — LBO lens of the football-field; sponsor-IRR triangulation for sponsor-buyer ranking
skills/operations/comparable-company-analysis.md — trading-comps lens
skills/operations/accretion-dilution-analyzer.md — accretion / dilution preview for buy-side strategic-acquirer pitches
skills/operations/three-statement-model-constructor.md — projection that backs the management plan in the situation assessment
skills/operations/market-research-brief.md — sector and competitive landscape source material
skills/operations/earnings-call-summarizer.md — recent-quarter trend material (for public-issuer audiences)

Outbound:

skills/operations/cim-drafter.md — once the mandate is won, the CIM Drafter takes over for the buyer-facing transaction document
skills/operations/pe-due-diligence-synthesizer.md — for buy-side mandates, once a target is in active diligence
skills/admin/regulatory-filing-checker.md — engagement-letter, fairness-opinion, FINRA Rule 5150 filing review if applicable
skills/_shared/email-drafter.md — pitch follow-up correspondence and engagement-letter transmittal
skills/_shared/meeting-summarizer.md — pitch-meeting minutes and audience Q&A capture for the next-version refresh

Pitch Book Generator