PE is not a safe haven

RE_Banker — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 03:30:56 -0500

I hate to be Dr. Gloom, but...

Analyst looking to make the jump to PE would think twice. I know a lot of people on this forum believe that PE is safe and the management fees will keep them afloat, but this article says otherwise. There have been other articles in the FT that further suggest this.

http://us.ft.com/ftgateway/superpage.ft?news_id=fto112020081838233425

"there is plenty of room for job cuts [in PE]";"90% of the people are not money-makers"; "Yes, I believe the number of people employed in private equity will substantially fall and those that remain will be paid substantially less."

Scary shit. Does anyone know of PE firms that have started cutting?

More job Cuts

RE_Banker — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:49:05 -0500

I've heard rumours that the axe was swinging at large i-bank in London today. Can anyone confirm?

Office Politics

RE_Banker — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 17:46:06 -0400

Working at a boutique, there is not really an HR, so the Analysts do most of the CV shuffling and I take care of the incoming CV's from my old school and I take a peak at most some of them. I should mention that I am a North American working in London and went to a target school in the UK (LSE/Oxbridge).

Who to blame for sub-prime

RE_Banker — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 03:16:01 -0400

I was sent this by a friend who was an undecided voter. As I am not american, my vote doesn't count either, but with the press coverage this election is getting it's hard not to have an opinion (i probably wouldn't care so muc if it was two middle aged white guys). It is biased, but I did some checking of the facts presented and the ones I checked passed. Although I lay blame on idiots who took out loans that they couldn't afford, there is also an aspect where the government is to blame for letting it happen.

Anyway, it seems like the democrats were the ones who introduced the communities reinvestment act which promoted homeownership for low income people...how stupid is that. Further, under clinton, he allowed the securitization of these sub-prime loans to occur.

Anyway, just watch the video and let me know what you think.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1RZVw3no2A4

Yield compression

RE_Banker — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 06:58:17 -0400

What are peoples thoughts on yield compression as a driver of higher IRR's. Would 50bps be a stretch over a 5 year period.