Thoughts on IB Data Science groups (eg. GS IBD Strats, Citi M&A Strategic Advisory)
Interested in learning more about what these groups and where people tend to exit to. I'm a CS/ECON double-major and have experience with data science and finance and am looking to go into IB and then preferably HF (best fit given personality and strengths). These groups look interesting but I want to be more than just a "quant" - want exposure to deal strategy, traditional IB stuff.
Any thoughts on these groups, what they do, and exit opps would be appreciated.
No clue on where they exit, but they are not generally considered "attractive" groups by traditional investment banking employees. At Citi, this group is combination of FSG (Financial Strategies Group), shareholder advisory, and data science. Just having worked with the FSG guys, they are mostly looking at things like WACC, optimal capital structure, optimal capital allocation (M&A, dividends, buybacks), etc. Their analyses are pretty technical, and they are sort of considered "nerds". The shareholder advisory folks are really focused on understanding institutional shareholders, and how their investment preferences and motivations can affect the investor base and the broader companies. They do have a decent amount of data analytics on who is holding what, tracking ownership over time, understanding which funds have a preference for which companies, trying to see what the market is signaling based on investor behavior, tracking activist campaigns, etc. So again, not traditional front office stuff.
Long story short, would not encourage going into these types of groups if you are looking for a traditional IB experience. I would imagine this stuff isn't super attractive to HFs either compared to the traditional groups.
Thanks so much. This really helps me understand what the group at Citi does. Just curious where this information comes from? Do you know anyone working in that group?
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