C. Consulting and research

‘Large corporations have their own finance and corporate development departments. But they often use an investment bank like ours because, like a consulting firm, we can offer independent advice, and we have a lot of experience in financial transactions. We also have a large network of contacts, and relationships with investors and companies that could be interested in a merger or acquisition.

If we’ve worked on a transaction with a company, we know a lot about its business. This means we can give advice about strategic planning - deciding what do to in the future - or financial restructuring - changing the way the business is financed. Large investment banks also have extensive research departments with analysts and forecasters who specialize in the valuation of different markets, industries, companies, securities and currencies. Analysts try to work out how much things are worth now, and forecasters study, the prospects for the future.’

Complete the table with words from A, B and C opposite and related forms. Put a stress mark in front of the stressed syllable in each word. The first one has been done for you.