Financial Sponsor Coverage vs Loan Syndicate & Distribution

I have the opportunity to join these two teams at different banks. One is an opportunity to join the financial sponsor coverage team in a lesser known bank (mid-market) and another opportunity to join a better known bank in their Loan Syndicate and Distribution team.

They are both trainee positions and hence may not lead to a full time role at the end of the trainee contract. But which opportunity would provide better career prospects?

Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks!

9 Comments
 

Financial Sponsor Coverage. Loan Syndications may be IBD but it is basically corporate banking.

 

Thanks for the reply.

But I m not sure how much deal flow the financial sponsor coverage team has at the lesser known bank so I might end up doing a lot of pitch related work whereas the loan syndicate team at the better known bank seems to have strong deal flow and the hiring manager of the team is recognised in the industry (in the financial news)

Both opportunities are at French banks. The sponsor coverage opportunity is in London whereas the loan syndicate opportunity is in Hong Kong..

 

i'm going to be rogue (since i hate french banks) and say go to HK. the experience you would get at a french bank in coverage in london is likely shitty, may as well travel, be a bit different and do syndicate, which is basically sales, but hey, its just an internship (as long as it's not your last chance to intern) and there's a good "story" you can spin from it as to why a real IBD position.

"After you work on Wall Street it’s a choice, would you rather work at McDonalds or on the sell-side? I would choose McDonalds over the sell-side.” - David Tepper
 

Thanks for the reply Oreos.

Oreos

i'm going to be rogue (since i hate french banks) and say go to HK. the experience you would get at a french bank in coverage in london is likely shitty

Why is coverage at french banks likely to be shitty? Is it gonna be the same for financial sponsor coverage?

Oreos

may as well travel, be a bit different and do syndicate, which is basically sales, but hey, its just an internship (as long as it's not your last chance to intern) and there's a good "story" you can spin from it as to why a real IBD position.

I am not sure if I will be able to spin this to get into IBD as I am starting this trainee position after graduation (French banks like to take graduates as interns/trainees). So let's say if I am not able to spin it to get into IBD and have to stay in the area for my internship/traineeship, i.e. financial sponsor coverage VS loan syndication, which one would give me better career prospects?

Thanks!

 

I was referring to sponsor coverage when i said coverage.

better career prospects for long term (e.g., not just an internship): sponsor coverage

"After you work on Wall Street it’s a choice, would you rather work at McDonalds or on the sell-side? I would choose McDonalds over the sell-side.” - David Tepper
 
Best Response

My vote would have to be for sponsors. A lot of sponsors coverage groups do all their own modeling, which would obviously be money for you in the long run (whether you get an offer or not). Even if the group doesn't do all their own modeling, you will be exposed to sponsors and how the general deal flow works. As someone above mentioned, loan syndicate is more of a sales job in the sense that your bank is the lead on a loan and your group's job is to sell let's say 70-80% of the loan to other banks.

I don't know anything about french banks or how you're classifying midmarket, but you should definitely do more due diligence as to what exactly each group does before you make a decision. I asked about deal flow at each place I interviewed at and obviously, all of them said that the deal flow was crazy. I went to so many interviews that I could finally differentiate between those bullshitting. Also, I generally had an idea from reading the news and the company's press releases.

 

Thanks for the advice guys!

Now I am really curious to know how coverage teams at french banks are different from coverage teams at other banks such as BB. Can anyone who have insights shed some light on this please?

 

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