Summer internship decision - boutique M&A vs. project finance
Hello WSO,
So I am a first year MBA and landed an offer for the summer at an industry focused boutique IB ~ 20 bankers, mostly ex-BB. I think the bulk of their deals are M&A. I also recently had a good interview with a bank for a project finance position - mostly underwriting senior, some mezz solutions for energy projects and portfolio monitoring.
I just wanted to poll the public on which opportunity they would choose. I'll be leaving the country for a month so there's a chance I'll need to make a decision via e-mail so just wanted to be prepared with all the insights as possible in case this high class problem arises.
Both groups have been growing rapidly and are hiring with the intention of converting it to a full-time opp. The opportunities are different and dependent upon what I ultimately want to do. I know it's vague, but my long term interests lie in working on transactions be it on the buy or sell-side.
The former would give me a broader transaction and CF skill set exposure and a more general experience, but the second is more related to an area (energy/renewables) I want to get into. The former probably also sets me up better for full-time recruiting as the experience is transferable to more opps. Lastly, comp shouldn't be that important for a summer, but the second one would probably pay double the amount of the first because the boutique is just being cheap for the summer.
Just curious to hear your thoughts. Any insights are much appreciated. Many thanks.





depends on what you want to
depends on what you want to get out of the summer and where you want to go post bschool... if you want a BB gig, then i'd probably go with the M&A gig, as the skills will be most transferable... if you really like the idea of project finance for the longer term (.e. the mezz debt, structuring, etc) then that may be the better opportunity. Don't make the decision based on comp tho (you sound like you know that is trivial at this stage tho, so you've got a good head on your shoulders).
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