This is my first post, but I thought I would reach out and ask fellow monkeys. I will be starting at SMBC as a 1st year IB analyst in July. Are there any PE firms that target SMBC? I know BB 1st years are inundated with emails from headhunters. I was just curious. Thanks so much!
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Bump
Ive never seen any banker or PE professional come from SMBC (only been in banking little less than 2 years) so cant expect PE exits to be any good if at all
None. The IB (advisory) side is weak in the US. The lending side is okay but they hardly ever lead. Seen one dude go to a failing BDC from their middle markets team, the BDC blew up and he ended in capital markets at SMBC because the skill set is just not there to be marketable to other places. If you have no other option then obviously go for it, lateral to a good investment bank, then recruit for PE.
Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate it
That being said, you should be proactive and reach out to the headhunters and know your shit. You’ll get some looks I imagine
From the lending side is there any opportunity to lateral to a stronger player or will that be an uphill battle?
There is. One guy moved to Golub, there have been others. If you’re top notch, you’ll get good looks
I Know someone who lateraled to a lower end BB
SMBC is good in shipping and they are respected in that industry but can’t say I’ve seen them do much else
dont the nordic banks lead in shipping
Sure you see SEB in some syndicates but you need low funding costs and very large balance sheets to finance multi billion $ vessels, both of which Japanese banks have and they love « real » assets
got it thanks, I though nordea and dnb lead the industry
Bump - any updates regarding this topic? Would also be great to hear about their pay and culture.
Do 6-8 months and lateral to a BB/EB. Very doable in this market. Your PE looks from SMBC will be few and far between, and not good opportunities
bump - considering the same thing
As others have mentioned, very few people exit directly to PE but it is an easy feeder to a BB/EB. They are constantly losing people to higher ranked banks.
Oh yay! that is good to hear
I had a chat with a guy from the levfin group in Europe and I got a very positive impression. They are pretty big here in the levfin space since they acquired GE capital's leveraged loan portfolio a few years ago. They are roughly 100 people in levfin in Europe (Nomura has 50 in comparison, although they also have a FSG) and they happen to work on MM deals as well as buyouts led by major PE funds like KKR and EQT. They mostly do deals where they are lead arrangers to maximize fees and their levfin team is entirely PE-focused (it's more like sponsor finance, little to no corporate coverage). In addition, they don't have a financial sponsors group so all the work is done by the levfin guys. Seems to be a good experience overall. Don't know about their US team or the other groups, hope this helps
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