Monkeys,
Currently a VP-2 at a middle market investment bank with a credit opportunities arm under umbrella. 60/40 sell-side m&a and debt capital markets activity. I used to be execution, but I'm more on the prospecting/origination side of the business. I've originated over $500m in transactions and met my revenue targets the past 2 years. Came from a large US BB that went defunct in 2008 (figure it out yet) where I worked middle-office with CDS, CDO, and CDO squared products. Went to a top 40 liberal arts for a BA, , MBA from a top University (Finance), and am gearing up for L2 of CFA. Have FINRA licenses as well.
Recently got an offer from a Big 4 to come in as a Senior Manager with--in writing--promote to director level in a year. Group is management consulting for financial services.
Now, my question is what are the exit ops? I'd prefer HF/VC/PE (really anything buy-side), but is that a pipe dream? What is the realistic exit?
Thanks
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Bump 2
Are you having any luck jumping to the buyside now? While you can get to the buyside from a big 4 you know that it's much more common to do so from IB and I think another major factor is that if you spend a few more years not on the buyside (and I'm speaking from a PE perspective, maybe hf's are different but I don't think so) you're going to be too senior to get into PE at that level. PE is very much a pyramid with far fewer spots at the upper levels, and the corresponding competition for them, so it's really difficult to break in at those levels unless you're an absolute rock star.
What's the reason for leaving banking? I'd imagine you'll be taking a paycut and it would make it difficult to impossible to get back into IB if that's something you're thinking about. Also, when you say management consulting to financial services companies do you mean you'll be working in a FIG type of group advising banks on internal things or would you be advising PE funds on their deals, doing DD, looking at portfolio co's, etc.?
Ding, I agree with you 100% that transitioning from IB to PE is an easier--and more common--path. My issue there was I was a 2nd year analyst in 2009 and didn't get traction at any firms. When the markets started turning around, I was a 3rd year associate and--again--didn't get much traction from PEs wanting someone 2nd year/pre-MBA. At the VP level when I started gravitating towards origination/prospecting over pure DD/support, I got some traction with PEs, but as you mentioned none would give carry and most thought I was too senior (especially since I didn't have any buy-side experience). I created equity decks on pub cos I was interested in to various HFs, I presented LBO opportunities during PE interviews, and I offered to work as a 1099 on a project by project basis until the firm got comfortable with me. All of this ended with, 'you're too junior to be manager, you're too senior to be associate'.
After all this, I attempted to make the jump from my middle-market bank to a tier-1 bank and didn't have much luck. Most firms wanted to bump me to Sr. Associate or there was some other issue. This Big 4 firm, however, offered a title bump, base bump, and the opportunity to work with NYC based world class bulge brackets and buy-side firms. The partner that runs this operation is also a killer. The guy is loved by his clients and has been a major contributor to this Big 4's topline in the advisory practice. He sold me on his pipeline, revenue progession strategy, personality, and tombstones.
When I say management consulting to financial services, I'm on the strategy/operations side. The projects could be front or back office related. For example, an FO project may be improving sell-side M&A post-engagement execution. A BO project may be auditing credit risk models. On the buy-side, it would be mainly post-transaction work. Overarching all this is strategy for the client as a whole. I have a heavy quant background and I'm qualitative/strategy/operations light. This seemed like a good role to get a holistic view of a business while still rubbing up against finance at some level.
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