Commodities Structuring

mea04tdt — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 18:56:05 -0400

What exactly is the role of a commodities structurer? Presumably commodities are a pretty liquid product and most of the trading is cash. Do structurers hedge risk for clients' energy/power/metals exposure? Or what is the point of the structuring guys on a commodities desk? Presumably there is quite a bit of quantitative analysis and some pretty interesting stuff to do on these desks. I don't care

Skills/role in m&a

mea04tdt — Mon, 28 May 2007 09:58:20 -0400

I'm going to be working in the m&a group for an IBank this summer. Will my role vary greatly from those in other teams? Do the m&a bankers do more/less modelling, comps, due dilligence, pitching, research? Or do they do "everything" when and where need be. The bank is not a BB and not extremely well known for IBanking in the region.

Abbreviations

mea04tdt — Mon, 21 May 2007 18:58:49 -0400

I've got a couple questions about abbreviations. What do the following mean (groups within an investment bank, I assume)?

GIB - Global Investment Banking (?)
CM - Capital Markets (?)
GM - ?
GTO-GMT - ?
GTO-ITCMT - ?
GTO-MO - ?
GTO-NCG - ?

MD vs. Staffer

mea04tdt — Mon, 21 May 2007 12:24:07 -0400

What (or who) exactly is the Staffer in a group? Is (s)he an MD in charge of assigning various people on various cases? Or is it someone not involved in the banking side of things who just keeps track of who's doing what at all times? I'll be receiving a call from my staffer before I start as a SA this summer, and I don't want to sound completely ignorant of what his/her role is.

MSCI Barra

mea04tdt — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 06:12:19 -0400

What exactly does MSCI Barra do? I've been reading through their website, and I'm still a bit confused (partly because I only understand every other word written on it). Do they just make models that institutional investors can use in their work? Or do they actually take part in trading themselves? Any ideas?

Venture Capital Trust (VCT)

mea04tdt — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 12:33:33 -0400

Does anybody have much experience with putting money in a VCT in the UK? Looks like if you've got money to put in (and split it up over multiple years appropriately), the 30% income tax relief (for shares issued in the tax year) makes the risk of capital losses pretty negligible. Also, the lack of Capital Gains Tax on VCT (if held for over 3 years) looks pretty good.

Anybody with experience of

Royal Victoria Docks (London)

mea04tdt — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 11:57:51 -0400

Anybody have experience of living in the Royal Victoria Docks area? I'll be an SA in CW this summer. One stop on the DLR and two on the Jubilee sounds like a decent commute to work. I've got an offer from a friend to rent a room for a decent price. I'm just wondering if "everyone" else will be living in Halls and networking, etc. Any +ves or -ves in living east of CW?

Barclays: Predator or prey

mea04tdt — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 11:42:18 -0400

Will Barclays acquire ABN, or will this spark off others to target ABN and Barclays itself?

Website Filters

mea04tdt — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 21:40:30 -0400

Just wondering how good the website filters are at IBanks, and what happens if you do happen to find yourself trying to access an inappropriate website. I remember a time at work (not IBanking) when I was researching Man Trucks (German truck company), and ended up on a site that wasn't "exactly" what I was looking for.

Anybody else had any similarly amusing experiences?

Shtokman

mea04tdt — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 10:23:25 -0500

Can, or do, IBanks get involved in something like the development of the Shtokman field? The original rejection of all 5 foreign companies was that "The foreign companies could not offer assets that compare to the volume and quality of Shtokman's reserves." (Wikipedia)

In my opinion this has already created some income for IBanks when Statoil and Norsk Hydro merged, presumably on the advice from Mr. Putin to Mr. Stoltenberg that a larger Nordic player would have been a much stronger competitor. Was it ML and GS that advised on the StatoilHydro deal? I can't remember.