Incoming FT analyst wondering what are common Pub Fin exits? Looking for some color on where people have success going to. Specifically wondering whether infrastructure PE or infra IB teams are feasible. Anyone know stories? Please specify whether MM or BB. Thank you!
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Based on the most helpful WSO content, public finance (PubFin) can offer some interesting exit opportunities, particularly in areas like infrastructure private equity (PE) or infrastructure investment banking (IB). Here’s a breakdown:
Infrastructure Private Equity (Infra PE):
Infrastructure Investment Banking (Infra IB):
Other Exit Opportunities:
To maximize your chances, focus on gaining exposure to transferable skills like modeling and deal execution, and leverage your network to connect with professionals in Infra PE or IB.
Sources: Overview of Infrastructure Private Equity, Public Finance best verticals for exit opps, Q&A - Infrastructure PE & IBD, Public Finance IB to PE?
Yes but very dependent on you placing into certain groups. Outside of say healthcare, utilities, and transportation, it will be very hard to tell the story to the buyside since you won't have the transaction experience.
If you go into a housing group, you could potentially exit to an affordable housing developer, lender, syndicator. Definitely not what most people think of - but housing definitely has more exits than general munis.
Exits in PubFin are heavily influenced by the bank (BB vs MM), group/sector coverage, and deal experience. Holding the bank constant, I would rank groups in the following tiers for maximizing exit opportunities:
I would not utilize league tables to rank banks, as transaction volume does not equal revenue or quality of deal flow in PubFin. At a super high-level, I would place the BB and MM banks in the following tiers (in alphabetical order):
To answer your actual question, the short answer is yes, both Infra IB/PE are possible. I will caveat that if you are specifically interested in Infrastructure, then you should prioritize placement first in the Infra / P3 / ProjFin groups and secondly in Power / Utilities and Transportation. The better the bank and the better the deal flow, the easier the transition will be.
If you work in Infra / P3 / ProjFin at a "Tier 1" bank, it shouldn't be that difficult to transfer internally or laterally to an Infra IB job after 1 - 3 years. Going straight to Infra PE is possible, but you would need to be in one of the top Infra / P3 / ProjFin seats, have strong deal experience, and preferably have deal experience away from municipal bonds. Even then, you would be limited to MM Infra PE at best, unless you develop a strong relationship with a PE firm during a transaction.
Thank you, this is very informative. I'm joining a tier 2, in your rankings, bank. Do regional coverage/MMs eye the same exits as BBs, or different looks? In other words, coming into a position at a tier two general coverage group, what are the exit paths, if at all different from infra IB/PE. Thanks.
Very simply try to steer your muni experience into a niche that is more transferable to non-muni world. As others have said this is anything that involves private capital or private activity bonds. Next best is enterprise credits (power, water, etc). Least transferable is anything purely secured by tax collections (general government, school districts, etc).
If you are doing Regional Coverage (i.e. Midwest Coverage at Baird), traditional finance exits (M&A, RX, PE, PC, etc.) will be an uphill battle. If you are a strong performer, your bank would likely give you an opportunity to transfer internally. Alternatively, the easiest path would be to switch sector coverage in Munis at the same bank (or lateral if needed) and then pivot outside of PubFin thereafter.
You should attempt to move to a bulge bracket bank's public finance group after about 1 year. Most of these exit opportunities do not exist if you're at a "tier 2" public finance bank that was listed above working predominantly on K-12 school bonds. If you want those types of exits, you need to be doing the $2 billion nuclear power plant or toll road deals, not the $5 million general obligation bonds.
What about Healthcare at a BB?
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