How do boutique and middle market banks without BB-sized balance sheets underwrite debt offerings? Interested in how this is done from $20m all the way to multi-billion dollar offerings. Is this essentially just relationships with lenders?
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Mechanically, they underwrite the same way BB's do it. However, because of capital requirements they are usually forced to underwrite a smaller chunk of the bigger deals and sell the remainder into syndication. It's not unusual for MM/boutiques to hold smaller pieces of larger syndicated deals than the participants even when they are the agent/lead lender--the balance sheet (or lack thereof) requires it (imagine a bank with a $1B of net loan volume underwriting a new $250MM loan). However they remain the lead lender/relationship manager. It's sometimes odd, but it works.
What are some popular boutique DCM firms? Having some trouble digging them up
You will also be more focused in your client base. We only underwrite in 4-5 industries, while BBs are all over the industrial and geographic map. While we have 5% of Citi's balance sheet, we can still offer clients similar hold levels for almost all deals.
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