Project Finance Bankers
Any chance there are active PF bankers here? Looking to connect and get some advice.
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Not really a PF banker anymore per say, what do you want to know?
Hey ok78, thanks for the reply.
Which banks are more heavy on advisory or lending work? Would league tables give an indication?
Or would the work be more based around the teams that you're allocated?
Also just wondering which countries would be good for PF bankers to develop in? UK? US? Canada? AUS? EU?
Would be great to connect via DMs but any insight is greatly appreciated :)
Thanks!
I can tell you which banks are more advisory / structuring / syndication focused: the BBs + BNPP + Macquarie. Evercore, Lazard, and Rothschild have done some work in the space but not much. You're a generalist capital markets advisor there anyway and PF is 1% of what you would do. Maybe I missed a few but usually the BBs, particularly GS, JPM, BoA dominate this space.
The following banks are more lending focused: Japanese banks (Mizuho, MUFG, SMBC, etc.), French banks (Credit Agricole, SocGen, Natixis, etc.) as well as other dozen+ commercial banks around the world.
In PF, league tables are a terrible representation of the analyst/associate experience. As in generalist IB, go to a name-brand bank and don't look back.
Thanks for the insight - really helpful!
Just wondering when you talk about name-brand - would this include lending focused banks? I've missed out on summer roles at some names you've mentioned so I'm curious as to whether I could build up experience at lenders (less competitive) and lateral to potentially P&U IB in the future.
Used to work in PF but it’s been a while so my perspective to be may be stale.
This will depend a lot on the region. My impression is that the US is far more capital markets focused in general and the PF composition is somewhat different to other regions due to 1) tax-equity component in renewables projects, 2) public/municipal finance market and 3) much more lumpy conventional PPP flows relative to market size.
League tables are helpful to show who is active in PF lending and pure PF advisory. Google IJ Global PF league table to get a sense there. If a bank is closing dozens of deals in your target geography a year they probably have enough going on to take lead roles, do structuring/advisory work etc which is what you’d like to see especially early on on your career.
Can you lateral from a strong balance sheet PF desk to an IB team? Sure happens all the time especially if you have decent modelling exposure (which you will at a bank that leads the structuring/modelling/advisory work-stream). I’d avoid (if you can) any roles that combine portfolio function - usually a sign it’s not a particularly strong desk anyway.
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Ping me if you would like
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Somewhat related - does anyone have details on how MS’ project finance team is? I hear very good things but I’m confused as to their exact role given MS isn’t a balance sheet bank. Are they still leading the advisory side but syndicating?
Mostly advisory-type work. Yes, there’s is a capital markets component but it really functions as an IBD desk that sits on their capital markets floor (specifically within lev fin).
To your point, MS is not balance sheet heavy so the group relies a lot on its advisory services and down the road usually make fees on underwriting. They’re usually lead left on any deals they decide to do too.
Day to day, super heavy modeling (juniors hold the pen), client calls, updating graphs/charts from model outputs, etc. Great desk for infra PE, hard but possible for generalist.
Any chance you could explain further regarding the difference between the responsibilities that are more capital markets based rather than IB based in a Project Finance context?
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Currently a PF banker. Feel free to PM me.
Or anyone else for that matter…
PF Banker doing advisory in Aus.
Agree with Teller above, US does not see much PF they are much more capital markets focused (144a). But there is a lot of PF in Europe relating to renewables, PPP and energy. BNP is the strongest PF bank, Credit Agricole does a lot of PF too. Then I'd say in declining order are SocGen, Natixis and ING. Most other European banks I can think of would likely not be structuring bank or MLA. A lot of UK / Nordic banks do LevFin for PE sponsors, which I think is a great starting point for landing in PE too.
In Asia/Oceania there is a lot of PF activity and invariably the Europeans have dedicated outposts / coverage here too. Mizuho, HSBC and Australian banks such as Macquarie are active in PF, which is more energy, metals and mining focused.
Generally, if a PF team at a bank has a couple of people from a technical background, like engineers or geologists etc. then this team is probably good. BB firms usually don't do PF, they are better at LevFin and PE sponsors. And so BB teams don't really advice on PF mandates either. Look out for boutique PF advisory shops in UK / Aus for IB type returns or else get into PF banks as a way in.
whats your day to day like?
Anyone got numbers for salaries/bonuses this year?
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