Difference between Structured Finance and Leveraged Finance...

I am an undergrad and pursuing a career in SF/LF. I want to know basic differences between SF and LF in terms of work, quant/modelling centricness and due dilligence. Would also love to hear from someone any specific examples in terms of deals and structuring which follows.

Comments (3)

eyebeedee

Rank: Orangutan
258

Jun 4, 2014 - 5:27am

I can't speak in terms of what the structured finance role involves, but I have a friend at a top BB in the structured finance team. When we speak, he always seems to be working on SLBs and is finding getting into a PE role very difficult with his current skillset. This is worth bearing in mind if your goal is PE as a lot of the analysts in his team are being advised to move into an M&A role to facilitate their move. It's also worth mentioning that this is referring to a London based team too.

Authored by: Certified Private Equity Professional - 1st Year Associate Certified Private Equity Pro

Best Response

Bullet-Tooth Tony

Rank: Almost Human
6,948

Jun 4, 2014 - 11:35am

Not trying to be a dick, but have you bothered to google them? The difference noticeable. LevFin generally involves financing sponsor-backed or leveraged acquisitions (can be strategic M&A too). It is going to work on deals and your modeling will consist of LBOs and credit models.

Structured finance is going to be more quant focused. It involves securitization of ABS, MBS, CDOs, etc. It will involve a higher level approach (portfolio view) compared to an in the trenches experience in specific transactions.

Authored by: Certified Investment Banking Professional - Vice President Certified Investment Banking Pro