Secondaries vs IB

How are secondaries placement roles different from IB? I do understand what they do, but I'm trying to understand how much the experience is transferable between them.

I am at a Global Accounting firm's M&A team and want to upscale to Elite/MM IBs. The market is dry and a recruiter for Campbell Lutyens reached out. If I get this, is that experience useful in getting into EBs and MMs later on?

London based. Thanks!

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In the same position as you and wouldn’t be without my M&A experience from a global accounting firm, especially not when reading around this forum.

Might be because I’m not UK/US located, but in my first two years (one as a student, one as an associate) I have done deal models, tax vals, IM’s, option vals, pitches, transaction structuring - basically been able to try everything and work in different sectors. Also, the amount of responsibility juniors are granted is also a plus, have weekly direct contact with CFO’s and M&A’s teams large corporatives

 

I believe placement would be more focused on fundraising as opposed to advisory on transactions be it your GP-leds or LP-leds. In terms of the deal process, the advisory side would more closely mirror the traditional M&A process. For placement, I believe it's focused a lot more on pitching investor materials and hosting marketing roadshows.

 
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I think if your only focus is on moving to Elite / MM IBs, then I'd stay in your current role. While you can make arguments that the role has transferrable skills, it'll be much tougher to get through the initial screening for a lateral hire. You won't show up anywhere near as often on the radars of recruiters just as they might not think you have any interest in getting back into IB. While you might be able to articulate your thought process in an interview, it'll require a more convincing story versus a more straightforward candidate. The market is slow everywhere - I don't think people will hold that against you (although I get that it's frustrating not to be getting deal experience right now).

 

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