Hey everyone
When the question asks which side you would want to represent, should the answer be technical i.e. because of the type of work on buy or sell side or a personal preference thing like which company you find most interesting/would rather work with? Not sure how to approach this part of the question.
Thanks so much!!
Just to give you an example of what they're looking for, I wrote this for the same question in 2018 and reached the AC stage. it's quite out-dated now though and I'd make a fair few changes, but hindsight is 20/20. Best of luck.
"I have been following the potential £7.3 billion merger between Sainsbury's and Asda since it was leaked to the press. Additionally, the deal involves Asda's parent company Walmart who will retain a stake in the new company. Five different law firms are providing advice on multiple legal areas.
Sainsbury’s will pay £2.975bn to Asda's parent company Walmart. They will then issue 1.6 billion new shares so Walmart has a 42% stake in the new company; Furthermore, Walmart has written off Asda’s debts and pension obligations at a cost of £2 billion. The new company will have the largest market share of any UK supermarket, and effectively have a duopoly. The main driving force is greater buying power, given 85% of their products come from the same 100 manufacturers. Sainsbury's successfully appealed for an eleven day extension yesterday so their competition lawyers could provide more evidence to the CMA. On current estimates the merger may require the closure of 423 stores to allay competition concerns.
I have been particularly interested by the Competition and Market's Authority (CMA) views on whether a commercial merger can occur, the impact this has had on share prices (Sainsbury's have fallen by a fifth since it was announced) and how Amazon are now considering this as an opportunity to enter the physical grocery market in place of the closed stores.
Despite the potential benefit for all three parties, I would be most interested in representing Asda as it is the smallest and could be consumed by the interests of the two larger companies. This would be so I could see the inter-play between Walmart and Asda's concerns; they both have separate legal counsel and I would see if any friction occurred between the two companies despite their mutual ties."
