Sponsor Finance vs. Leveraged Finance

I am trying to wrap my head around the difference between Sponsor Finance and Leveraged Finance. From my vantage point it seems that Sponsor Finance is generally smaller transactions where purely bank debt is used and Leveraged Finance works on the larger transactions that require other debt products such as high yield bonds. If someone could provide some confirmation or direction on this, it would be much appreciated.

9 Comments
 

Just depends on how each individual bank breaks it up really. Don't think what you posted above is accurate for any firms I know of.

 

From my experience, financial sponsors groups are responsible for "covering" a particular set of sponsors, so they spend a lot of time coming up with ideas they constantly pitch to the various buyout shops.

Lev fin is primarily concerned with placing debt for deals that are live or on tap. So generally if you have a choice between the two groups, lev fin is the way to go. Of course this was back in '06 - '08 for me, so times could have changed.

 

This may just be me, but would it not make sense to avoid FSG and LevFin at all costs at the moment? Lets be honest, the deal flow is going to be crap and I know that one bank has merged the two groups together.

 

Depends on the size of the deals your bank deals with. MM groups still have some deal flow (not a lot but some). Its hard to predict what the deal flow for a certain group will be like a year or two from now. Go where your interest is at, you will like your job a lot better. That being said, if I were choosing right now I would most likely avoid those two groups

 

Quis est quisquam magnam. In exercitationem minus ea.

Consequatur necessitatibus optio facere magni esse quis accusamus. Officiis minus et pariatur magnam excepturi sit quo est. Nobis labore et laudantium.

Repudiandae et inventore distinctio hic et. Necessitatibus nobis eligendi autem error qui et. Eveniet culpa cumque reiciendis atque dolor.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.3%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 02 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.3%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.7%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.3%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 11 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (44) $258
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (78) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (73) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
8
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
9
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
10
bolo up's picture
bolo up
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”