I'm fairly interested in ECM division of investment banking, but I'm having trouble finding information on this job title. I mean, is all these people do are assisting/pitching in IPOs? Do they do other tasks/projects?
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ECM: you take companies public (IPOs), do follow-on offerings, convertibles, hybrid structures, etc. Most time focused on the first two.
Assist and pitch, yes, and execute the deals. Can be a decent lifestyle I've heard, relative to some other IBD groups. Depends on the place. Some complain about monotony of the work - "do one IPO you've done them all" - while others really enjoy getting in on the ground floor and taking a VC/PE-backed company public and the like.
I would echo the above. Relative to most IBD, work-life balance is really attractive. On average 50-60 hour weeks, stretching to 70 with a flurry of IPO activity but very healthy otherwise. Some firms really have a broad franchise and see an excellent variety of dealflow (IPOs, secondary offerings, convertibles, all the first response mentioned), others see almost exclusively IPOs and even then only in limited sectors.
What is ECM? (Originally Posted: 09/01/2006)
This is probably a dumb question, but I have yet to hear a clear answer. What exactly is equity capital markets (the group) and what do they generally do at i-banks? I understand there are product and coverage groups and I'm assuming ECM is some type of product group--but what is their role on a transaction?
Thanks
it's not that dumb a question, because banks are vague about it and it means different things in different places.
in most cases, though, ECM is basically a shitty middle-office job. they work with traders and they're there to help bankers issue IPOs, SPOs, etc. by keeping an eye on the markets. Technically, one could argue that anyone buying or selling stock is working in the "equity capital markets," but that's semantics.
Is that different from the function provided by Sales in S&T?
ECM = equity capital markets.
The line of work falls under the IBD umbrella. Not a middle office role as zala rules wrote, but a front office role.
ECM is not institutional sales, which is basically trading. rather, ECM is a shitty middle-office job that involves helping bankers in their IPO etc activities. if it were front office, they would be dealmakers, they would have a lot of client interaction, they would lead the entire capital raising process - like real bankers. they don't get paid anywhere near as much as the real bankers on the deal, because the fees mostly go to the bankers.
So Zala, what you're saying is that analysts/associates in capital raising groups are middle office/not real bankers as opposed to analysts/associates who are in transactional advisory (M&A) are the real bankers/front office guys?
Now I'm confused.
zala, maybe you could hold off telling people what the good and shitty jobs are until you've actually worked a day in the industry.
zara,
ECM = front office ECM = front office ECM = front office
institutional sales not equal to trading
institutional sales = institutional sales
"zala, maybe you could hold off..."
i actually have worked a day in the industry.
"So Zala, what you're saying is that..."
i should try to be more clear. capital raising group is real i-banking. sometimes they are even called ECM or DCM. but USUALLY, ecm refers to the capital markets guys who work with traders and keep an eye on the markets. they tell the capital-raising bankers what share price they should sell at, etc.
you can get into a hedge fund after a couple years in ECM, but ECM is not really i-banking. they work like 60 hrs a week.
"institutional sales not equal to trading"
of course it's not. inst sales guys are the "geeks" on a desk as we all know. this guy is a little green, and i'm basically explaining to him that S&T is buying and selling all day long, for simplicity's sake.
haha, "a little green"
The only experience you have over this guy is more time on online message boards.
like i said, i have worked in IB. pretty straightforward.
i'm sorry that you work in ECM, i really am. but that doesn't mean you can't admit its shortcomings.
poster above is me.
At which firm did you work? Your understanding of ECM sounds wildly different from those of most people.
how is it that ECM guys are not front office? They go with the ibankers to help a client raise money. Also, ECM and DCM are really hot right now. The thing that I'm not sure about is if you can easily switch from ECM to IB. Can you?
ecm=front office anyone with a modicum of understanding of this industry knows that
anyway zala is still in college and posts on the other vault.com forums too. sometimes she makes sense, but many times she claims to know more than she does. however she'll learn pretty quickly once she's in the industry (if that every happens).
zala is a he, thank you very much, and he has already been through a summer analyst gig.
ECM might seem like front office, but they basically make slides for pitchbooks. ECM is not the real investment banking experience. you don't see Blackstone PE recruiting ECM analysts. if it were that easy, we'd ALL go into ECM, work easy-ass hours, and coast into our coveted private equity/VC positions.
How can you say that capital raising analysts aren't investment bankers?? They help corporations raise capital through EQUITY and DEBT issuance. They are most definitely INVESTMENT bankers! See Dan Bush's thread for clarification. I think he knows what he's talking about.
you haven't got a clue, zala. Sorry to be blunt.
"you haven't got a clue, zala. Sorry to be blunt."
see Dan Bush's thread. then, shut the hell up.
Just cos Dan Bush says so, don't make it so. Who is Dan Bush anyway?
It seems that neither of you have any idea about what goes on at an investment bank. Anyone claiming DCM and ECM are middle office is wrong. It's not even a shade of grey - it's black and white. And just plain wrong.
Books on ECM, event-driven investing, ipo's (Originally Posted: 03/10/2011)
Hey,
Does anyone know any good books on IPOs or equity capital markets in general? I don't mean textbooks, more like Barbarians at the Gate (PE), Liar's Poker (S&T) etc. Maybe something about the IPO boom during the dot com bubble?
Thanks
bump
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