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Matija Petrovic, Finance Expert in New York, NY, United States
Matija Petrovic

Finance Expert in New York, NY, United States

Member since April 19, 2018
Matija's executed $2+ billion in transactions—including a Latin American joint venture with Santander Bank—and delivered financial insights as an M&A advisor and finance director at Zurich Insurance. A former investment banker, he's created financial models, business plans, and strategic growth initiatives for corporates and startups. He joined Toptal to use his financial acumen to help clients generate sustainable growth and profitability.
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Career Highlights

Education

Case studies

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Industry Expertise

  • Accounting Services
  • Advertising & Marketing
  • Finance
  • Banking
  • Venture Capital & Private Equity
  • Insurance
  • Branding
  • Financial Modeling

Software Expertise

Other Expertise

Employment

  • Co-founder

    2017 - PRESENT
    Vammily
    • Co-founded a company that creates next-generation emoji applications for celebrities, entertainment professionals, and other categories.
    • Developed an investor presentation and pitched the digital marketing concept to prospective investors including high-profile celebrities and professional athletes.
    • Led licensing agreement negotiations, securing favorable terms for a long-term royalty contract.
    • Managed a team of offshore designers and programmers, successfully delivering a high-quality software application within a two-month timeframe.
    • Modeled the estimated conversion of social media traffic using paid advertising spend to calculate net revenue. The net revenue estimates were critical inputs to the cost-benefit analysis which substantiated the monetization potential of the platform for prospective investors.
    Focus areas: Product Licensing, Web Development, Instagram Ads, Facebook, Development, iOS, Branding, Digital Advertising, Revenue Modeling, Investor Presentations

  • Finance Director FP&A

    2014 - 2018
    Zurich North America
    • Developed the annual financial plan for a $2.2 billion revenue company, coordinating with business unit leaders and supporting them with insightful analytics to help define financial and operational priorities.
    • Calculated a benefits model and developed an investment thesis for a $10 million software acquisition. Management approved the transaction despite facing significant budget constraints.
    • Worked with cross-functional teams to address profitability challenges as part of a turnaround plan that included improving pricing strategies, exiting unprofitable segments and establishing reinsurance agreements. The changes helped enable the business unit to achieve the yearend financial targets.
    • Led a project team in the assessment of the effectiveness of the FP&A function and created a framework to streamline and improve workflows. The time savings from the efficiency gains were used to train well-qualified personnel for higher value roles to increase the impact of their contributions on the business.
    • Developed financial models and KPI dashboards that improved the reliability of forecasts and the visualization of performance trends.
    • Led special projects including divisional reviews, presentations to investors and credit rating agencies, and meetings with employees and executive leadership in support of the divisional president and COO, helping the executives to surpass their budgeted financial targets in multiple years.
    • Mentored and developed five analysts—teaching financial modeling, sensitivity analysis, and various valuation methods.
    Focus areas: People Development, Relationship Management, Profitability Analysis, Ratio Analysis, Data Analysis, Financial Reporting, Management Accounting, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A), Valuation, Financial Modeling, Finance Strategy, Capital Budgeting, Budgeting, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A)

  • Project Manager M&A

    2010 - 2013
    Zurich Insurance Group
    • Worked across transaction stages on a $1.7 billion joint venture between Zurich and Santander in Latin America, establishing Zurich as the largest foreign insurance company in the region. Shared responsibility for financial modeling and due diligence, deal structuring, valuation analysis, and post-acquisition accounting and integration.
    • Built and maintained valuation models, leveraging the analysis to identify critical sensitivities, assess scenarios and risk, and determine fair value to inform valuation discussions.
    • Co-managed external due diligence advisory support, coordinating with finance, tax, and legal advisors to manage project workflow and integrate workstreams.
    • Synthesized primary diligence findings into presentations and presented recommendations to management for deal approvals.
    • Managed finance integrations, delivering purchase price adjustments and allocation analysis, opening financial statements, and investor disclosure notes.
    • Managed relationships with the finance teams of acquired entities as well as third parties including investments banks, transaction service providers, audit firms, and investor relation counterparties.
    Focus areas: Relationship Management, Post-merger Integration, Valuation Multiples, Due Diligence, Three-statement Modeling, Emerging Markets, DCF Valuation, Valuation, Purchase Price Adjustments, Purchase Price Allocation, Intangible Asset Valuation, M&A Earn-out Agreements, Transaction Structuring, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)

  • M&A Analyst

    2009 - 2009
    Sal. Oppenheim Bank
    • Performed financial and business due diligence for various buy-side mandates in the travel and leisure industry.
    • Created investment memoranda and presentations for the $120 million sale of a market-leading online pharmacy.
    • Developed robust financial models for various companies that included complex valuation modeling as well as sensitivity analysis, scenario planning, and return analysis.
    • Led the preparation of a fairness opinion for a public takeover bid of an abrasives company, enabling the board of directors to approve a strategic transaction.
    • Developed analyst training materials and processes for insurance-specific valuation models that were used to onboard new analysts.
    • Co-led the preparation of a report that reviewed the strategic and financial restructuring options for a leather chemicals company. The valuation assessment of ~$100 million provided management with a solid foundation to proceed with the sale of the business.
    Focus areas: Finance Strategy, Transaction Modeling, Due Diligence, Investor Presentations, Market Research, Cost of Capital, Comparable Company Analysis, Financial Modeling, Valuation Modeling, DCF Valuation, Valuation Multiples, Discounted Cash Flow (DCF), Fairness Opinion Reports, Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A)

Education

  • Master's Degree in Finance
    2006 - 2008
    University of St. Gallen - St. Gallen, Switzerland
  • Bachelor's Degree in Economics
    2002 - 2005
    University of Basel - Basel, Switzerland

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