Goldman Sachs Public Sector Investment Banking Superday?

What they do: Goldman's PSI group is a municipal bond investment banking division. The website is as follows: http://www2.goldmansachs.com/what-we-do/investment-banking/industry-sec…. This group is a niche within the investment banking division. How it differs from M&A is the clients that GS works with is not AT&T or T-Mobile. Instead you are dealing with cities, counties, or local governments to issue bonds for projects like roads, public schools, hospitals, etc. The headquarters, at least where I interviewed in person, is Los Angeles, California. Offices are located in San Francisco, LA, NY, and Seattle. There could be more (and I would venture to say there are more) but I only know those for certain. Typically, municipals are located close to those government entities who need to finance projects. For example, an underwriting in Seattle is usually done by the Seattle office MD. At the Analyst level it may not matter where you are relating to what deals you work on.

Example Deal: Bond issues are public knowledge thanks to FINRA, MSRB, and SEC regulations. As with everything, GS and other BBs work on the largest $ deals. Here's one example from 2008 with GS as the lead underwriter: http://www.bpa.gov/corporate/Finance/Debt_Management/bond_info/docs/200…. You can find others on MuniOS or MSRB, EMMA online.

Interview structure: You have the traditional phone screening which lasts 30 minutes. Very behavioral based for all parts of the interview (superday included). Goldman as a whole really stresses the "teamwork" concept more than other banks. For public finance (also known as muni finance/public sector and infrastructure) they really don't expect you to know too many technicals. Superday was 4 - 30 minute face to face interviews with Analysts all the way up to MD. As with all interviews, the higher up hierarchy you go, the more behavioral and less technical.

What you should know: Obvious things - your story, why GS, why this division, why LA/wherever you interview, why you, etc. Additional things - I was asked what shape the yield curve is and why. If you could, summarize what we do to someone who has no clue about this business in a few sentences. Between two potential bonds which one would yield higher and why (given a set of circumstances). The last one was a brain teaser since there is no right answer. They want to see your logic. Oh and I guess other basic things like explain to me time value of money and why are bond prices and YTM inversely related.

The Role: SA or FT I am sure is very similar. You will perform typical things any IBD Analyst does: pitch books, bond valuation, running financials, due diligence, laundry, fixing printers, etc. Also, you will be making ratings presentations for ratings agencies who assign ratings to a bond.

Hours: Some might say they are different (earlier) than M&A divisions. However, I am not sure. I know Analysts who called an early night 1AM. Sounds relatively the same as other BB hours overall.

Tips: Use technical knowledge you have to demonstrate the fit. For example, if they ask you what shape is the yield curve and why? Answer by saying: "The 10 year and 30 year US T-Bond are trading at 192 and 312 basis points respectively making the yield curve upward slopping. One reason the curve is upward slopping is because of time value of money since investors demand compensation for additional when investing in longer dated bonds."

Take Away: I enjoyed meeting the group. The name GS obviously is great for an MBA. Some people on this board will shit on public finance and say "it's not really investment banking". They have no idea what they are talking about. The only difference is you might not be able to transition to PE since you don't work with companies or in the leveraged finance department. However, many people who get into public finance stay there. Why? From what I hear, the hours are better post Analyst. It's not a bad way to make 7 figures at a BB. The work you do combines politics/public policy, economics, finance, accounting, law, etc. I would be very excited if I got a position with this group or any public finance position (it doesn't happen often). I noticed a lot of GS staff either have been there since graduation or transferred from MMs. I think it is because it requires a specialized knowledge of municipal finance others don't have. Plus, there's a bad stigma in the industry with public finance. Not really sure why. Best of luck and feel free to PM me if you have additional questions.

-Khatar