MM IB vs. Big 4 Infrastructure

Hey everyone, I've been a long-time lurker of WSO and finally mustered the courage to start my own thread. Fresh grad from Australia, don't have a great GPA (we go by % and I'm sitting at high 70%), but currently returned home to Malaysia to begin my career. Have always aimed for BB IBs in Singapore and Australia but wasn't able to secure a summer internship in my penultimate year; given my situation, I've only recently overcome my stigma (never liked audit) against Big 4s and started seriously considering them as an alternative.

I've been offered a stint with a Big 4 Infrastructure team in Kuala Lumpur (KL) that I'm due to start with middle of this month. After interviewing with some directors of the division, the gist of the work sounded very much like consulting, except focused on the power, utilities and infrastructure industries. I was also promised opportunities to travel around Southeast Asia. Other interesting things are that this division is relatively new, has a small team, and is headed by the team in KL.

On the other hand, I have a very strong chance at securing an IB position with a local MM IB.

So here lies the dilemma: whilst I have been aiming for an IB job throughout my uni degree, I'm worried about the deal/transaction volume that I would be exposed to at the local MM bank. As of now, the Malaysian economy ain't doing too well either, which doesn't help. Right now, all I care about is learning as much as I can with any firm. Salary at the MM should slightly exceed the Big 4 but in the grand scheme of things, my starting salary isn't the biggest concern to me. If it helps at all, my 10-year plan is to end up in private equity across the bridge in Singapore, after completing my MBA.

Which job will teach me the most stuff?
Which job will teach me the right skills for PE?
Which job would you choose?

After doing a bit of digging, it's come to my attention that there isn't too much information on the Big 4 Infrastructure departments on the forum (or online for that matter). If there's anyone working in an Infrastructure division at a Big 4 or other boutique firms, I'd love to hear about your experience. Thanks for reading!

TL;DR - want to end up in PE eventually, which do I pick now?
Infrastructure: sounds like consulting work, promised lots of travel and client facing opps, potential to pigeon-hole myself, what exit opps??
MM IB: weak Malaysian economy, not sure how robust deal activity will be, worried about not getting enough exposure.

 
Best Response

My personal opinion:

Big 4: Sounds like a good experience, lean team so you'll gain more exposure to all facets of the job, the potential to travel and gain insight into different economies. Keep in mind, a LOT of people who work in IB came from the Big 4 track. You could always leave, scoop your MBA, and then recruit for BB's/PE that way.

MM IB: sounds like an overall shitty experience, if the deal flow is slow you run the risk of having minimal experience to put on your resume, which hurts you for buy side recruiting. I don't know the MM in question here though and how they recruit, however.

You said you want to learn as much as possible, and in my opinion the Big 4 opportunity seems like a more valuable opportunity from a learning perspective, but take that with a grain of salt.

"My name's Ralph Cox, and I'm from where ever's not gonna get me hit"
 

Thanks for your opinion. Right now I'm currently in the same boat as you: Big 4 route does sound like the more promising option from the two.

I recently had a chat with a family member who went the BB IB > PE route, and was told that he personally preferred to work with staff who came from an IB background (vs. consultants). Generally felt like they had more technical knowhow to handle LBOs and all that. However low deal volume is still the biggest deal breaker here for me.

 

I am almost on the same track as you, but I may risk being bias. I have done a couple of internships in France with a PE Fund, and some Project Finance work with a french bank with lots of deal flow in the infrastructure landscape. Now I got an Associate role in the Middle East with a Big4 within the Infrastructure team. 

The key to look at here is whether with the Bank you are working on the advisory side or the underwriting side. From my experience on the underwriting side, I did not get much exposure to modeling and creating pitchbooks. My experience was mainly stress testing a pre-existing model and writing a credit paper for the results. 

I believe in Big4 infra you get much more exposure on the modeling side. Contrary to TAS at Big4, the infrastructure team takes lead advisory roles (usually advising the public sector). You get exposure in building models from scratch and structuring the RFP (request for proposals). The experience I believe is very important if you later are looking into switching to BB Investment Banking or a Private equity fund. 

Although I think your chances are that you will be stuck within the infrastructure eco-system. Which in my opinion is a very nice niche skill-set that is very desirable in the market. 

 

 

I’m currently in a boutique MMIB in Australia and came from Big 4 Infra Advisory.

Like many others have said in this thread, MMIB experience would rely A LOT on the deal flow. It makes or breaks your case when you want to move, especially to buy side.

Also depends on the kind of buy side roles you’re aiming for long term. Is it infrastructure private equity? Or is it sector agnostic? Infra PE funds and corporate development roles highly value infrastructure experience, whereas sector agnostic PE would value your transaction experience.

The plus with Big 4 is that there will always be work and projects, whereas MMIB’s deal flow relies on the MD’s origination skills and network. With Big 4 Infra, a lot of their work has to do with government grant funding proposals, operational reviews, and PPPs. If you decide with Big 4 Infra, focus on projects where you can lead the project finance model, which is the crux of infrastructure transactions. Project Finance models usually involve debt so if you do it right, you can gain creds in LBO as well, which would help you in buy side later on.

 

The odds of going from Big 4 infra to sector agnostic PE are very low

Even if you move to IB, it will likely to Infra / utilities IB team

Don’t know many people who have gone from infra IB to sector agnostic / industrial corporate buyouts

The volume of transactions you may do (or PF modelling) won’t really affect this IMO

 

That’s very true. Big 4 Infra to IB / PE pathway will likely be infra/utilities focused. Unlikely to be generalist IB / PE.

One feasible way is to jump into a MMIB that does a lot of infra but still does non-infra deals, and leverage that experience to transition into generalist PE and other sectors. Much trickier to pull off though

 

Veritatis aliquam in provident reprehenderit sapiente. In voluptates qui voluptas doloribus omnis quo.

Quos iusto qui sunt enim sed repudiandae a. Aliquam voluptatibus est voluptatem nihil. Libero esse veniam enim. Sint et est cum delectus et.

Aliquid pariatur aperiam omnis et voluptatem incidunt. Aut dolorum suscipit praesentium recusandae. Doloremque ea ipsum suscipit saepe voluptates laudantium consequatur. Nulla autem temporibus ut corporis sint sed.

Repellat assumenda ipsum repellendus quis ipsam rerum. In voluptatum dolor laudantium voluptatem facere perspiciatis voluptatum.

Career Advancement Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Jefferies & Company 02 99.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 19 98.8%
  • Harris Williams & Co. (++) 98.3%
  • Lazard Freres 02 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 03 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Harris Williams & Co. 18 99.4%
  • JPMorgan Chase 10 98.8%
  • Lazard Freres 05 98.3%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.7%
  • William Blair 03 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Lazard Freres 01 99.4%
  • Jefferies & Company 02 98.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 17 98.3%
  • Moelis & Company 07 97.7%
  • JPMorgan Chase 05 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

March 2024 Investment Banking

  • Director/MD (5) $648
  • Vice President (19) $385
  • Associates (86) $261
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (13) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (33) $170
  • 2nd Year Analyst (66) $168
  • 1st Year Analyst (202) $159
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (144) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
99.0
4
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
7
kanon's picture
kanon
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”