Summer internship final decision
First of all, thanks very much to this website and community for helping me on my path into finance. I have used and abused the forums and company database on my summer internship search, and now I have a couple of very good offers to choose from. I'd like everyone's advice on what I should take.
The first is a project finance startup. They do financing packages and other services for middle-market utilities. It's a very fast-moving group, they have 600MW of projects lined up and have done $2 billion of transactions in the last seven years. They have some experienced and well-connected people on board (team of 6 people total) and they have gone through a startup accelerator program. When I asked what I would be doing, they said I would do financial modeling to determine the profitability and structure of these projects, and work directly with clients.
The second is a boutique M&A advisor that has been around for 25 years. They seem to have about 3-5 professionals who put in varying levels of effort. They have done over 200 transactions but I can't tell how much is going on now - it is very "off the radar" as far as internet and Linkedin presence go. The president, who has been doing this for 25 years, told me some things about the company's influence and connections that are either very impressive or wild exaggerations. They did not interview me at all; the president just spent an hour on the phone telling me stories about his company and then told me to send him an email saying what I wanted to do this summer. He claimed that I would be working directly with clients to put deals together. They haven't gotten back to me and I've had to push for responses and information.
My goal is to be eligible for FT recruiting this fall (I'm a junior) at BB and elite boutique investment banks. From the outset, it seems like doing actual M&A is clearly better than project finance. But there are some red flags, and I would be learning some relevant skills either way. Can you guys help me out with this decision?
Thanks.
