Guneet Bhatia first discovered her passion for M&A while studying at the London School of Economics (LSE), where an annual stock competition brought strategy and financial analysis to life.
Today, as a Corporate Development Manager at NatWest, she focuses on acquisitions, divestitures, and joint ventures, helping the bank navigate complex transactions and evaluate opportunities across sectors.
Guneet shared her career journey, the challenges of working in M&A, and her perspectives on emerging trends such as impact investing and the growing role of AI.
Q: Tell me about your background and how you first broke into M&A?
I became interested in corporate finance during my first semester at LSE through an annual stock competition. Competing against 50 teams, I discovered how strategy, storytelling, and financial analysis come together to build an investment case. That hands-on experience, which we ended up winning, brought theory to life and sparked my passion for the field.
Before LSE, I graduated top of my class at Shri Ram College of Commerce in Delhi, one of Asia’s leading commerce colleges. At LSE, I completed an MSc in Finance and Private Equity, focusing my thesis on M&A in the oil and gas sector. Analyzing a real transaction gave me exposure to deal dynamics and deepened my understanding of financial outcomes.
After university, I broadened my experience with internships in investment research for early-stage startups and business development at a people analytics firm. Both roles sharpened my technical toolkit and commercial mindset, laying the groundwork for a career in M&A.
I then joined NatWest’s graduate program, rotating across different areas of the bank before moving into my current corporate development role.
Q: When you first came into the industry, what was the steepest part of the learning curve?
Two challenges stand out. The first was the speed at which you need to absorb a sector’s details while keeping sight of the bigger strategic picture. It’s a balance between diving into complex areas like mortgage securitization, pensions regulations, or capital treatment while maintaining an overarching view of the transaction.
The second was communicating deal opportunities effectively. Building a model from scratch is one thing, but boiling it down to the two or three insights that truly matter for a board-level audience is another skill entirely.
Q: What does your current role involve on a day-to-day basis?
I focus on the inorganic strategic options a bank can pursue to achieve long-term goals. This could mean acquisitions to gain scale or new capabilities, or divestitures when an asset no longer fits our strategy. So we work across both buy-side and sell-side transactions.
We also consider joint ventures and partnerships; any form of inorganic growth falls within my remit. My role combines strategic assessment with hands-on execution, including financial modeling, deal structuring, and coordinating stakeholders across the organization.
What I enjoy most is that no two days are the same. I get a front-row view of how deals unfold, how the financial sector evolves, and how these moving parts impact the broader economy.
Q: Is there a particular deal that has shaped your approach to M&A?
A formative deal I worked on was the acquisition of Cushon, a workplace pension savings FinTech. I supported the team across financial analysis, deal structuring, and project management.
The challenge was that Cushon was in a high-growth stage, so traditional predictive cash flows weren’t available. Revenues were driven by assets under management, customer acquisition, and workplace distribution channels, so our valuation method had to be more creative than a cookie-cutter approach. We used a traditional discounted cash flow (DCF), combined it with market benchmarking, and considered how the sector was evolving in the UK, stress-testing numbers with internal teams and external advisors.
What stuck with me is that deals aren’t just numbers. You need to understand scalability, technology, and long-term strategic fit. Successful acquisitions are as much about integration planning and optionality as valuation.
Q: I noticed “impact investing” on your LinkedIn. How do you define it, and what areas are you most drawn to?
Impact investing is deploying capital in ways that generate measurable social or environmental benefits alongside financial returns. It’s about directing investments where they can drive real-world change, with rigorous frameworks to measure impact.
The two areas I’m most drawn to are financial inclusion and sustainable finance. On inclusion, I’m interested in how innovative products and platforms can expand access to essential services like credit, pensions, or insurance for underserved individuals and businesses.
On sustainable finance, I focus on how capital markets can help transition to a low-carbon economy. This includes investments in renewable energy, green infrastructure, or companies operationalizing more climate-friendly practices. Even incremental improvements, like a steel company decarbonizing its supply chain, can be accelerated with financial support.
Q: For someone looking to build a career in M&A, what skills or experiences should they prioritize?
I’d highlight three areas. First is a strong technical foundation — valuation, modeling, and accounting. During my undergrad in accountancy and economics, I took courses that built practical skills, including Excel modeling. Learning Python or R can also be helpful.
Second is developing softer skills. Participating in competitions, societies, or extracurricular projects builds teamwork, communication, structuring, and presentation abilities. Most universities offer these opportunities, and they’re invaluable.
Third is cultivating curiosity about how businesses operate. Even in my free time, I like to pick a sector and break down its business model. I’ll evaluate how a company like Hilton grows, what drives its revenues, and what makes it scalable. Early in an M&A career, you focus on projections and valuations, but understanding how a business works is the key skill.
Q: What trends do you expect to shape M&A activity in banking over the next couple of years?
A few trends stand out. First, consolidation among mid-tier banks is likely, as many face regulatory costs, capital requirements, and tighter margins, making independent operation challenging.
Second, FinTech partnerships and acquisitions will continue to be a focus. New tech entrants are reshaping customer expectations, particularly in embedded finance, savings, and pensions. Partnering with smaller, innovative players can be transformative.
Third, divestments of non-core businesses will remain common as banks refine strategic priorities and previously acquired assets no longer align with core objectives.
Q: How is AI beginning to impact deal execution in your work?
We use Copilot and in-house versions of ChatGPT extensively, and adoption is growing across banking. AI improves efficiency by streamlining mundane tasks in due diligence, accelerating market and competitor analysis, and automating document access and data extraction.
While AI doesn’t replace judgment or negotiation, it shortens execution timelines and frees junior team members to focus on higher-value analysis. Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, recently highlighted how AI has dramatically cut IPO timelines for large organizations. The trend is accelerating, and how quickly institutions adopt it will determine its ultimate impact.
