IB vs Buyside Credit?
Currently a sophomore at HYP considering career options. I’m truly fascinated by the credit space and am strongly interested in pursuing a career at credit shops along the lines of Bain Capital Credit/Audax Credit/Maranon Capital/GSO/Atalaya Capital that actually recruit from undergrad vs the traditional investment banking route. What are the forums opinions on going to buy-side credit full-time in contrast to the traditional IB path?
The work is probably more interesting on a day to day basis, but because it teaches you a more specific skillset it generally provides less diverse exit opps if you eventually want to leave.
The firms you listed vary massively in terms of investing approach / culture / analyst development and even location. I’d be very mindful of all that before accepting an offer simply because they do credit. Do you want to do direct lending, high yield investing, distressed, etc.
Thank you for the response! What are your thoughts on entering direct lending in one of the firms mentioned above, in location agnostic, but realistically what can I expect out of exit opps for direct lenders that invest across the capital structure? LMM PE, distressed debt, credit HF? Are those possible
You’ll be learning interesting things and it certainly wouldn’t be impossible to move into HY or distressed, but it also isn’t a perfectly natural transition. I think RX bankers would certainly have an easier time. In general, it’s also probably easier to switch out of a bigger brand name place and a place with a long track record of hiring analysts. E.g. Bain has hired analysts out of school for years and people are more aware of the training they receive.
If you know you like credit and have an opp, I’d say go for it. I went straight to buyside credit and really enjoy it. But, I would think if you go to a good RX/Lev fin group you’ll have good options re: buyside credit after a couple years and could be more targeted in your search at that point (going only for distressed roles for example, while out of undergrad it is more likely you’ll have to take what you can get, whether that be direct lending, distressed, loans, HY, etc).
Appreciate the response, can you shed some more light on what to expect for learning curve/experience/comp/exit opps for joining a credit shop out of undergrad? Particularly those that do direct lending across the capital structure with sponsor-backed transactions?
Bump once more, wanted to see if anyone else had opinions
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