Project finance to infrastructure M&A

tl;dr Is doing infrastructure Project Finance to break into infrastructure M&A a good plan?


I have been looking to break into infrastructure M&A (as an off-cycle intern) recently but am having a hard time, mostly because I have no infrastructure experience.


Quick background: Econ graduate from a top 10-15 university in the UK. Have been working in corporate finance the last few months since graduating.


I was recently rejected from a role but was given the suggestion of applying for an entry level Infrastructure Project Finance role before reapplying to Infrastructure M&A after a year or two. I've only just started researching Project Finance and it actually looks very interesting to me.


For those of you working in any Infrastructure finance role, is going into Project finance until I can get an M&A infra. off-cycle internship/analyst position a wise plan? What alternatives are better? Would I be better to stay in Corporate Finance until I can switch to M&A?

 
Most Helpful

Have a similar profile and went from PF into an Infra M&A role. Key things to consider in my opinion:

  • is it a pureplay financing role? —> much more process Heavy and not as fast paced as advisory.
  • Personally I have experienced the work to have less strategic components but much more exposure to debt. Eventually you only care about you being repaid as a lender.
  • PF hours tend to be slightly better/pay slightly lower

I have seen the switch made before, it is definitely doable and you just need to line up a convincing story. The skillet does definitely transfer, as PF modeling is very technical and you can learn a lot, which will be appreciated as a lateral/ FT hire for any M&A position.

 

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