Q&A
Hello! Am open to most questions so please feel free to fire away
Brief background
- Engineering and MBA from India (completed in 2011) - Joined Standard Chartered Bank in 2011 and spent time in corporate banking - 4 years+ as a Ratings Advisor, helping clients in the high yield & IG markets (more of the former) in ASEAN, South Asia, Australia - Experience in executing DCM transactions in the region as part of the role
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Hello!
I do see myself continuing in this role for the short to medium term, but perhaps not in the long term. My exit options could be four fold - 1) DCM/HYPG teams 2) Lev-Fin Groups in banks 3) Buy-side (credit investing) - as you've mentioned 4) Rating agencies. I'm probably more inclined to options 1) and 2) - but of course, it would depend on finding the right fit as exit options in the region are not always that straightforward. I've thought a lot about buy side credit investing, but I am not 100% sure it would suit my aptitude. Never ruled it out, though.
I've been quite fortune to be working on a lot of sponsor deals in the region, and when you do so, you end up working much more with the sponsor teams (especially their cap markets divisions) rather than management of companies. In such deals, a lot of discussions are driven by the sponsors. Ultimately, you end up building a relationship with the sponsor, rather than management teams of such companies. However, in Asia, sponsor deals are still in relatively nascent stages as compared to the US where, of course, majority of the HY deals are sponsor driven.
Favourite: An opportunity to make a very meaningful impact & do work for management/issuers which is very valued. Non favourite: Being a "non-revenue generating" job changes your positioning in the firm - even though we do end up spending a lot of time with senior management of clients