HSBC Real Assets/Infrastructure Interview Prep/Case Study

Howdy,

Am going through the interview process for an Associate role at HSBC for a fund that will invest in agriculture/emerging RE technologies, biofuel, forestry, and other real assets.

My interview process is as follows... Phone screening, Interview with MD, Second interview with Offshore team, HR interview, Technical/Financial assessment with presentation, Then final decision/interview with Executive head.

My experience is five years mostly in project finance/the infrastructure team of a consulting firm (doing DD for investors, transaction advisory, etc), so am curious on what type of technical/finance assessment (at this stage) i should expect? Imagining it may be some sort of financial model for a hypothetical deal, but curious on whether these would be something you do on the spot within a few hours, or would they expect you to try smash out a larger model similar to what you may see in an infra transaction? Or something else?

In some of these case studies, is it better to focus on getting through as much as possible? Say for example, not going to the effort of modeling something like IDC or adding in model functionalities like sculpting debt unless explicitly stated? But stating these are things you could also do.

Any general interview tips for someone not from a conventional banking background also appreciated. Cheers.

(Have been through the infra PE overview and externally M&I infra private equity)