Study enough history, and you’ll soon realize that not all companies exist to make a profit. Many exist to change social behavior, or to create an “empire” for their government/military backers (e.g., the East India Company). Technology investment banking often serves companies in one of these categories. Many tech companies are not necessarily aiming for […]

Along with an uptick in questions about restructuring investment banking and distressed private equity, we’ve also seen more interest in healthcare investment banking lately. It makes sense: when there’s a recession, pandemic, or market crash, everyone wants to run to the “safe group.” The only problem is that healthcare has not been so “recession-resistant” this […]

If you’re interested in industrials investment banking, you probably want to “keep your options open”. After all, you’ll work on a wide variety of deals, you won’t get pigeonholed, and you’ll have a broad set of exit opportunities. Better yet, the sector is so diverse that even if one vertical isn’t doing well, you can […]

Back when offshore outsourcing was first making waves, many people started asking the same question: “So, when will they outsource investment banking analysts and associates? How hard could it be to hire someone else to make pitch books?” Many banks outsourced portions of the role (see: “Knowledge Process Outsourcing” roles in India as one example), […]

If you want to work on energy deals, Canada is a good place to start. And within Canada, most of the action is in Calgary – from both the Big 5 Canadian banks and the bulge bracket banks. Sure, energy deals do take place in other locations, but it’s hard to beat Calgary for the […]

If you tweet, they will retweet. And if the big banks and the old school sectors are no longer “hot,” bankers will start up dozens of smaller boutiques… …All focused on one of the hottest sectors around: internet and new media. Sure, we’ve covered the TMT sector before, but this sub-sector deserves special treatment because […]

Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the… OK, OK, never mind, back to your cubicle now. You’ll never make it into outer space if you go into a standard investment banking role, but you might come close if you join the space & satellite advisory group. Even if you don’t win free tickets […]

There’s one product that fuels investment banking analysts and associates above all else: Red Bull. And, to a lesser extent, takeout ordered from GrubHub Seamless / America To Go. So what could be better than advising the companies that help you survive your job on a daily basis? Nothing, really, which is what makes the […]

From our coverage of public finance (Part One, Part Two), or “municipal securities” as it’s called at some firms, you learned all about issuing bonds and responding to requests for proposals (RFPs). And if DCM and the capital markets are for you, public finance is a great place to be. But if you’re more into […]

So far in the industrials space, we’ve covered quite a bit about capital goods (ex: aerospace & defense) and transportation (ground transport and maritime transport). But before you begin transporting goods or producing aircraft, you need to build the factory, freeway, or entire city in the first place. And that’s where the construction, technical services, and […]

If you want to make more money than you know what to do with, nothing beats becoming a drug dealer and using your knowledge of chemistry to build a crystal meth empire. Sure, you might have to kill a few dozen people on your way to the top, dodge multiple assassins, and take out some […]

So far in this series on natural resources groups, we’ve covered metals and mining, alternative energy/clean technology, and oil and gas… which means there’s only one group left to tackle: power & utilities. When you hear “utilities,” you might think “boring, predictable dividend stocks [that fall in the value category of a zephyr chart]” – […]

If there’s one coverage group that’s even more desirable than metals and mining, it just might be oil & gas investment banking. Not only do you see some of the biggest deals with the world’s largest companies, but you also learn new accounting techniques, valuation methodologies, and maybe even something about petroleum engineering. Everything within […]

Last time around, we looked at how you transport capital goods and products on the ground via trucking, railroads, and everything in between. But sometimes oceans, or at least very large lakes and rivers, separate your cargo from its final destination. Barring the ability to walk on water, you’ll have to use maritime shipping to […]

When you hear “industrials,” your first thought might be manufacturing and mechanical equipment. And then there’s aerospace & defense, which is really just another type of… very large mechanical equipment. But after you get done manufacturing all this heavy-duty equipment, you still need to transport it to its final destination – and this is where […]

One of the benefits of working in a media & telecom group in banking is that you also get to work with sports teams and leagues: after all, what media baron would pass on the chance to own a few of their own sports franchises? So you’ll see lots of sports teams and leagues owned […]

Elliot Carver, the CEO of the fictitious Carver Media Group and the nemesis in the movie Tomorrow Never Dies, once said, “Welcome to the new world order, Mr. Bond. Churchill had his armies; Caesar had his legions; I have my divisions.” And it’s easy to see why he was right: media and telecom is quite […]

Are you a sellout for reading this blog? Bankers don’t have a great reputation, unless it’s a reputation for models, deals, pitch books, and the occasional memory of blowing their bonuses on one night at a fancy Manhattan night club. But bankers in the clean technology sector are of a different breed – you might […]

Any solid group should have two things: big deals and lots of them. A colleague of mine once put it more colorfully: “I’m not a big deal. I just close them.” Most bankers would agree that they got into the field to affect great change in a sector through strategic decisions (e.g. mergers and acquisitions) […]

While much of the terminology used in finance contradicts itself, there’s a special amount of confusion over four groups in particular: Leveraged Finance, Debt Capital Markets, Financial Institutions, and Financial Sponsors. They all have “Finance” or “Capital” in their titles somewhere, and we’ve covered 3 out of 4 of them before… So today we’re going […]

Still confused after reading Part 1 of this series on public finance? Don’t worry: you are not alone. When I was speaking with our interviewee the first time around, I got the big picture idea of just how different corporate finance and public finance are… But I also wanted more details of what you do […]

“Public finance? What is public finance?” I was staring at a reader email from back when I started M&I, and I had no clue what he was asking about. “Finance” was investment banking, private equity, and hedge funds… and maybe a few other areas like equity research and trading, right? Who would want to advise […]

You’ve heard those words plenty of times when it comes to real estate – whether you’re just casually interested or you fully intend to become the next real estate guru. And if you overlook the occasional housing crisis or three, you can see why the real estate market is so essential to all sorts of […]

If you want to be a bit different from all the other bankers out there, financial institutions groups (FIG) coverage just might be for you: Valuation is completely different – in some sectors. You need to understand the finer points of accounting and spot small details. No one outside the group understands what’s going on. And hey, […]

Whenever the economy sinks and consumer confidence falls, pundits come out of the forest and start talking about consumer spending and just how much the damage will be. You might think that only matters if you happen to own your own jewelry, appliance, or sporting goods store – or you’re looking for discounts at any […]

“Yo, M&A is the best, right?” “Why would you ever take an industry group over M&A or Leveraged Finance? Don’t you want to buy entire countries when you move into PE?” “If you’re not modeling you’ll get bottom-tier bonus!” Ah, yes: the industry group vs. product group debate. Just like the debate over cardio vs. […]