Corporate development to investment banking

Hi,

I'm a summer analyst in corporate development at CIBC World Markets. I'm going into my last year of university, and I'm looking into investment banking for full time recruitment. What are your thoughts on switching from corp development into ibd in terms of its difficulty, whether employers value corporate development as valuable work experience... any insight would be helpful !

PS. In case some people don't know what corp dev is since it is not widely discussed. I'm essentially doing M&A but on behalf of CIBC rather than doing it for clients. It is a lot more strategy focused rather than pitching to clients.

Thanks in advance

JD

 
jxduong:
PS. In case some people don't know what corp dev is since it is not widely discussed. I'm essentially doing M&A but on behalf of CIBC rather than doing it for clients. It is a lot more strategy focused rather than pitching to clients.
Thanks.
 
A Posse Ad Esse:
Haha, everyone here knows what corp dev is.

True, but OP is new to WSO.

I'm kind of interested myself. Very common to go from ibank to corp dev, but I haven't heard much the other way...

Money Never Sleeps? More like Money Never SUCKS amirite?!?!?!?
 

Good question, but bottom line is that the work you do in Corporate Development is buy side investment banking. You'll be gaining the same skills and similar experience.

Also keep in mind that Corporate Development is typically an exit opportunity from banking and not the other way round.

 

while i was a summer at a BB, i know of a guy who came in as a 3rd year associate, with no previous experience other than corp-development. It just depends on the market and who you know. as you get into more senior positions it also has do with what kinds of relationships you have which may help that particular bank grow their franchise in a particular market area. bottom line, it can be done, its about networking and being in the right place right time.

 

Thanks folks for the replies - I have four years of experience - one as an engineer, transitioned into technical marketing for two years and now have over a year in corporate strategy. I'm pretty ripe for an MBA...I'm probably the same age as most incoming associates, and definitely a bit old/experienced in finance to be a first year analyst. I have a MS Finance from a non-target but pretty sure that won't get me into banking by itself. Oh well..thanks for the help.

 

Why dont you just tell us the name of the company first of all, there is no way we can use the name of the fortune 100 company to determine what subsidiary you work at. Secondly I think this is a good internship for you. What year are you?

This is definitely a good start, especially if you are at a nontarget. You will develop good industry experience.

 

I had corporate development experience before I went back to B-School, where I landed a summer internship a a BB bank in NY. The banks loved the experience. It is only beat out by actual banking or (big name) consulting experience.

However, be prepared to talk about the transactions in great detail during interviews.

 

I’m a junior so FT recruiting would be in the fall. My main concern with the job is that since the company isn’t Google or Microsoft or something, the name wont come through on a resume. My other option for the summer is some kind of back office thing at JP Morgan. So would my best bet for FT IB recruiting be to go for the relevant experience in Corp Dev. or the better name at JP Morgan?

 
pphi:
Funny.. i'm trying to go into IB from corp dev. lol

This is pretty much my boat as well. I would say it's definitely possible, and if you wanted to really increase your odds and MBA may be a good transition if you're into that sort of thing.

"They are all former investment bankers that were laid off in the economic collapse that Nancy Pelosi caused. They have no marketable skills, but by God they work hard."
 

Has anyone seen a BB or MM hire directly from corp dev? I previously worked at a no name boutique for a year, then was able to join a corp dev/strat team. I may stay long term, but if I want to go back to IB, do you think I could enter as an associate after 2-3 years? In my mind, a lot of the strategic thinking and management skills are developed in the corp dev/strat role (just like an MBA) because I am constantly managing projects, coordinating amongst departments, digging into the models, and preparing decks.

Yes, I know IB is not all about the things I mentioned above, but it seems like it would be a decent transition, especially if I can network into the industry group my current company is in.

 

Depends on your corp dev group IMO. Some enjoy the corporate lifestyle while others are quite intense. If you work a fair amount of hours per week and develop an expertise in an industry vertical, I think it would be possible. The CD guys that our group has passed on were those that were trying to lateral from 40-50 hour/wk jobs where they were just running DCFs and accretion/dilution and lacked elite communication skills.

 
Bullet-Tooth Tony:

Depends on your corp dev group IMO. Some enjoy the corporate lifestyle while others are quite intense. If you work a fair amount of hours per week and develop an expertise in an industry vertical, I think it would be possible. The CD guys that our group has passed on were those that were trying to lateral from 40-50 hour/wk jobs where they were just running DCFs and accretion/dilution and lacked elite communication skills.

You make a good point. I always thought that IB was a check mark you had to check if you wanted to transition to PE (in my case from CD). But I think my skill set from CD is much more transferable directly to PE.

 

Just curious, are you unsatisfied in your current role? Corporate development is a desirable gig. Lots of potential career opportunity. I've known several non-target, ok GPA guys take the CFA and make a badass career out of corp dev. I guess you could always go back to that after an IB gig.

"Decide what to be and go be it." - The Avett Brothers
 

It has been done. You are undervaluing your industry experience and expertise. You should not need grad school to talk about your deals and the fact that you participated on the buy side is an invaluable resource when pitching or prepping a company to get ready to sell.

Your perspective will be different than the rest of the typical junior staff and your industry knowledge is certainly a big selling point that I would push.

I know someone that moved from F100 to strong MM IB back to F100 and another that moved from F100 to MM IB.

 

Thanks for your thoughts guys.

@"wareagle4230": I wouldn't say unsatisfied but I want experience on the sell-side as well and especially when looking at corp dev positions at larger F500 companies (current company is small cap) they're looking for people/I'm competing against those who have gone through an IB program. Also feel IB experience would hone my analysis skills so in terms of professional development I'm interested too.

@"Bullet-Tooth Tony": Thanks for the input, do you think going for an Analyst role sounds about right then?

 
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