best groups for energy transition?
I’m looking to recruit next school year for banking in houston and I don’t find working for oil and gas groups too appealing. I’m super into energy transition stuff as of recently, and would love to know what banks have good groups in energy transition initiatives.
I would need to research to answer this
In Houston or in general? Basically every bank in Houston does oil and gas. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any that focus purely on energy transition. I know Moelis just added some key energy transition people and Piper has their power desk in Houston so a bit more of a broad exposure. But again, Houston is still very much an oil town and banks there follow the money. If you're looking purely for power stuff with absolutely no interest in oil and gas, you might want to broaden your search
del
in general, i just thought a lot of this exposure is in houston(i also go to school in houston), but yea idc where i work but i just really like renewable energy stuff. ik that jeffries has a group for it, and that moelis is getting one going, just wondering if other banks had similar stuff
climatech also applies^
Bump - also interested
Not sure about Houston, but a lot of banks have renewable energy groups, tax equity groups, or project finance groups
1. Energy transition = carbon capture. Most "energy transition" groups are just ESG-rebrands of O&G groups. You will still work on O&G at any "energy transition" group.
2. Renewable energy is in a rough patch right now. However, O&G IB sets you up for Renewable PE, so if that's something you're curious about, go for it.
3. O&G is sort of similar to renewables analysis-wise...if you don't find O&G interesting, then you might not find renewables interesting either. If you're just passionate about "green" finance, there's some ESG-focused funds you should look out for.
thanks for the help! do you think you could list firms that have those groups that you mentioned, i’m just trying to get a list together for networking and such.
it’s not that i’m not interested in o&g im just not as passionate (grew up in a household that was really focused on sustainability). renewables and energy transition PE is definitely the final goal. i’ll also definitely look into ESG groups in houston and other cities
From Canada, so I'm not too familiar with the Houston scene unfortunately. Alternatively, you could target PU&I teams which would also potentially lead to clean-infra.
WIth that being said, Canadian pension funds have huge infra teams that are obsessed with renewables...
Take a look at Project Finance if you’re really into renewables/energy transition. As someone who had a similar interest, I initially was only focused on M&A IB energy groups, but realized looking at the financials of an energy company was a little too high level and wasn’t as interesting to me as understanding the financials at the project level - I.e. how a certain technology generates cash flows, the risks associated with specific technologies, and their place in energy markets (not to mention understanding the structure of various energy markets). Plus, your work helps get projects financed and built, which was something I found personally rewarding.
Something to think about if you’re really into the energy transition. I believe PE exits are still very possible, although may be more limited to Infra/Energy PE strategies, but there are probably those more knowledgeable about that than me.
Hey, this is interesting. May I ask how the shift from working (or recruiting for?) in M&A compared to PF has been for you? I am most interested in the difference in skills for the roles, and how much training you got in project finance once you shifted from M&A before you were “on the job”/comfortable with the work (like modeling for projects instead of valuation for a company acquisition). Thanks.
The shift wasn’t altogether very difficult, although I found there were far more resources for traditional IB recruiting than PF. I ultimately bought a course from Pivotal180 on Renewable Energy modeling, which went beyond just modeling and explained concepts of PF and built a strong foundation for it. I was also wrapping up my Master’s and used that knowledge to build my own model for a renewables project as part of my thesis.
Since I’ve started working, I feel I have a pretty strong conceptual understanding of a lot of the industry, energy markets, etc…but there’s a lot more nuance to the job that’s taken some getting used to, particularly when it comes to structuring and pricing debt for clients, which the senior bankers tend to do more of since it’s more of an art than a science. PF is also pretty big on syndications and capital markets, which is something I was unaware of, so learning about that process and the considerations there have been something new as well.
Irrelevant, but found this funny because this was literally part of my interview answer.
Used to do capital markets (cash equity, tax equity, construction debt) for a large renewables developer and made the jump to infra PE. This comment is spot on.
I’m interested in how project modeling from a valuation standpoint is different from a debt financing standpoint. Would love to hear your experience. Cheers.
Hi, thanks for the response. I am in a similar position as you are at a developer - wanted to understand your process for recruiting on the buy-side:
1) Was it self led or through headhunter?
2) What kind of fund are you working at MM / UMM / MF? Are you on the credit side or equity?
3) How long were you at the renewable energy developer before you got the buy side opportunity?
Happy to DM you if that works better
Echo Moelis and Jefferies for dedicated clean tech/energy transition groups. MOE has half their cleantech group in SF/half in HOU. JEFF is half NYC/half HOU. Citi also has a Clean Energy Transition (CET) group based in NYC and HOU. Also just saw that Barclays is starting an ET group, though not sure where it's based. In terms of the best, time will tell, but JEFF has poached 3 MDs from a strong GUGG SF group and has had some success recently, while I've heard Citi is losing some of its shine after Trauber and Arash Nazhad left. Anecdotally, I've heard GS doesn't do too much ET work as a percent of their overall energy deal flow, but there are 2 MDs in the Houston office. I don't think you can be exclusively staffed on those projects as an analyst
is Arash any good? know that rick pohlemus is Elon Musk's banker and a legend in cleantech
trauber moving was massive for moelis, definitely keeping an eye on them.
All JEF seniors are in Houston for the clean tech / energy transition group.
wrong. they have a traditional utilities team up in NYC too.
putting Trauber and Arash in the same sentence re: impact on leaving Citi is WILD. this comment/thread needs to be pinned for future houston topics.
Don’t know much about Houston or Texas, but a lot of banks in California and new york have coverage groups for energy investment banking. I have read that Nomura has a good Energy Transition-focused group that has two offices, in NYC and San Francisco. I think Morgan Stanley also has an “ESG center for excellence” in NYC if the Capital Markets are interesting to you at all. Barclays has an Energy Transition Group too.
In no particular order:
MS, BofA, Lazard, Nomura Greentech, Citi, Jefferies, Guggenheim, JPM are the most active and will be advisors to most of the energy transition / renewables mandates.
Jefferies. Just poached (arguably) the best renewable banker at the moment from Guggenheim with two other prominent MDs. They operate out of Houston and have had good dealflow right now, which will only get better.
CIBC Energy Transition, very strong group in the field
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