Energy Project Finance - anyone out there?
I'm looking to go back to school for an MBA, and I've been researching post-MBA careers. I haven't seen much about this topic on here, and I was wondering if anyone worked in this field or was familiar with it. I thought it looked pretty interesting, but can't say I know anyone involved. Much appreciated.
I worked in project finance during the summer of my MBA - my take is that if you are interested in big capital projects, it can be interesting but for me the deal process was just SO SLOW I couldn't take it. Project finance models tend to be much more complex and detailed as 1) the debt is non-recourse so the lenders require greater precision; and 2) a lot of the variables in the P&L are contractual so if you like the technical side of modeling it could be for you. As energy/infra as an asset class attracts more investment, there should be plenty of opportunities in the space but i think compared to M&A the working environment is far less dynamic. At assoc/VP level the comp is similar to M&A but I think you'd get left behind as you move up the chain, even if you jump to the buyside.
Thanks. So did you ultimately go into M&A after that internship?
I started working on a PF transaction shortly after I was hired in summer 2015, and we STILL HAVEN'T CLOSED.
i went into EM PE
Project Finance in Energy, PE in Energy - your pick? (Originally Posted: 07/27/2011)
If you had a choice between these two, which one would you pick? Please tell me why.
PE - $$$
can you define project finance? Is that basically IB?
Depends. Are you more debt-focused and into sales or are you more into principal investing?
More information would help...
Project finance can be a great business, especially at the senior level. The drawbacks at the junior level are:
I worked in the PF/principal investment group of a large corporate (think GE/Siemens) then moved over to a sponsor to do traditional PF for energy projects. Now I mostly focus on M&A in the power space for another sponsor. Happy to answer questions.
I would agree with NuckFuts that it is a pretty niche skill set if it is a pure PF role. It is tough to move out of a role that has nothing to do with PF, but there are options. I have seen people go to commodities, Energy IB, infra/energy focused funds, utility/IPP corp dev team, and to project developers to name a few.
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