Prudential Capital

What's Prudential Capital's rep? I understand they do mostly debt and some equity, so it seems like a legit buy-side opportunity. I have an offer with one of their regional offices and I am trying to get a handle on them. Compensation seems good for the hours.

 

I think they are more of a mezz type place - that said I strongly considered them since a family friend is an MD there. I think it's a great opportunity if banking isn't an option, and it's probably much better than doing ops or PWM.

 

I've heard some mixed things about them. On one hand (from a Pru employee), I've heard that it's an awesome opportunity for pre-MBA's if PE isn't an option cause you'll get to work all along the capital structure with their various products (sr, mezz, etc.). But then I've heard from people who used to work there and have said that it's a lot of cold calling and sourcing deals, even for their pre-MBA associates.

That being said, I am very interested in hearing what other people have to say or have heard because I am still very interested in interviewing there. Does anyone else have any info?

 

So what is the difference between Prudential and a commercial bank? Seems like they're just placing more junior (mezz) debt in companies.

I heard the same thing about calling to source deals and that really turned me off. Any opinions on the name? Would it lead to a good business school or other opportunities?

I'm torn between them and other offers because the pay is quite good for the hours. People seemed good too.

 

I think Prudential deals mainly with private placements and equity investments that are not always associated with sponsor transactions. Commercial banks (lev fin or sponsor groups) generally lend money to sponsor-backed LBOs and don't usually do private placements in companies.

Can anyone else speak to the direct calling effort that is expected of associates? Seems to me it would lead to a top tier school and maybe into PE post-MBA given the experience you'll get. Any other opinions?

Would you mind sharing anything else you've learned through interviews (i.e. culture, comp, etc)

 

ny office is filled with dbags who are primarily dedicated to one school or so i've heard.

u do source but thats for the associates. analysts don't or so i've heard.

Other offices are focused on corporate workouts and portfolio management more so than actual sourcing or so i've heard. .

they pay u a salary which is competitive(55K may have gone up to 60-65K), bonus is nothing spectacular, or so I've heard.

at the end of the day, if u have this, its between working in corp finance or at PCG, it just depends on what ur more interested in doing (supply chain/inventory management, budgeting, financial planning & analysis vs. analyzing capital structures, writing memos, calculating ratios)

i assume exit ops to hedge funds would be easier from PCG than from an FLDP.

but if its ur only offer, than the decision seem pretty easy to make.

------------ I'm making it up as I go along.
 

The first year analyst comp is very close to 100k (+/- for discretionary bonus). The structure is 55k salary, a very good signing bonus (>10k), and a guaranteed performance bonus. From what they told me, performance bonus doesn't vary much year to year, unlike banks. So basically you get a flat 5-20k yearly bonus increase depending upon your rating. Hours are supposedly 9am-6pm.

Cornelius - any ideas on where the analysts end up? I can't figure out if their reputation is any good. That has me concerned especially since it's a regional office.

 

they cold call potential clients. for example, they'll run a screen for companies within a certain industry, market cap, certain ratios, negative cash flow, etc. and after reading their K or Q, they'll see if the company is fit for a financing.

Somewhat similar if u were at PIPE shop, or a summit/TA.

Analysts don't. Associates and above do. Analysts work on pitches, memos, portfolio management.

If u work in one of their portfolio management/corporate workout offices, u will not be pitching.

------------ I'm making it up as I go along.
 

cornelius...sorry bro but I'm still a little confused. Are they like a PE shop that cold calls companies to see their interest in a divestiture or acquisition? Again, thanks for the input.

 

They provide companies with capital mostly through private placements, mez financing and senior debt. you shouldn't worry about cold calling much, whatever the office. The fact is that they have money to lend and credit markets aren't too rosy right now - so for the most part they have companies come to them for business these days. I interviewed with them but accepted a premier boutique. Otherwise, it was my second choice. If you don't care about making as much as possible out of undergrad, they are a very close second and you get to go home while it's still light outside.

 

The office I interviewed at was only talking to candidates from other regional schools, so the competition wasn't as bad. I'd say not as competitive as IB, but it's definitely not easy. I ended up turning them down, but they seemed to have other candidates chomping at the bit to sign with them. I have an overall favorable impression of them...

 
shingge

1st yr undergraduate with no experience (same across offices)

55k base
15k sign on
20k bonus

2nd yr (supposedly)
60k base
35k bonus
+performance bonus

What are the acutal numbers?

 
Best Response

I have some insight I'm willing to share. The hours are definitely a lot more relaxed, right in that 60-70 range you're looking for if not less during slow seasons like the summer. Overall, the culture at Pru is known for being one of the best in the finance world. Offices usually run on 3 analysts, and you'll be the lead on most of the deals you get staffed on. The offices are focused on investment grade private placements, but some offices do below investment grade and others pull in quite a few mezz deals that require LBO modeling. There's also a dedicated mezz team in Chicago and a distressed debt team (CPW) in Newark. Other more specific groups like Infrastructure (Newark), Oil and Gas (Dallas), Power, etc. exist as well.

Across all groups the work is fairly similar: Screening new investment opportunities that come through (Pru has its own origination network) by looking at different deal structures, researching credit comps and moodys reports, building projection models, and ultimately writing credit memos to get the deal underwritten. The portfolio management side involves staying on top of new financial data and writing brief analysis to update progress in terms of covenant compliance and whether or not you think the credit rating is appropriate.

I think they would definitely consider an ex-IB analyst. Most juniors are straight out of undergrad but I've seen a variety of laterals from corporate banking, Big Four audit/consulting, etc. Comp is around $110k all-in for first years, but could be more for the distressed/mezz teams.

Feel free to pm if you have any more specific q's

 

No research reports. A lot of writing though. It is the private investment arm of Prudential the insurance company. You will have to write memos about each deal your group is working on closing and memos about the yearly progress of current investments. it's private placement debt (so in the power industry that can be utility companies, power projects (such as solar, wind, geothermal) and co-ops.

They invest anywhere from senior term debt and BIG debt to mezzanine and private equity power investments. Investment grade deals can be anywhere from say ~$30mm to $200mm, with the mezz and equity investments up to $50mm.

There is quite a bit of modeling. Exit opps are pretty widespread (bschool, pe funds, credit shops, mezz funds, other buyside firms). It's a completely different job than IBD, but typically ex-bankers come over compared to people leaving to go to banking.

 

what bank is the corp/commercial and is it corporate, mid corp, or commercial.

PCG is good but if you have an offer from like JPM Mid Corporate, I would take that 100%. hours are easy, 830/9-6/7pm

-- "Those who say don't know, and those who know don't say."
 

I did Corporate Banking at Raymond James. I liked it. Pretty interesting if you can get a good group. Get stuck with something like telecomm and exit ops shrink compared to Real Estate or Healthcare. There was a guy in Real Estate for 2 years and got an offer in Investment Banking with the firm with their Real Group while one guy went from Healthcare to IB at JP in NY after some time. But one guy tried to do the same after Telecomm for 2 years and couldn't get anything. Don't know if he sucked or if it was Telecom holding him back but that's just what happened.

 

I had an offer from them when I graduated undergrad but decided to go with a long-only shop. I think your assessment is generally correct. They generally do private placements, both debt and equity, for middle market companies. At least when I interviewed with them, the offices were split into industry groups (e.g. Dallas would do oil and gas, SF did real estate I think, etc.)

I had a favorable impression of them but went with the other offer for various reasons. I wasn't sure what the career path was there which was one of the reasons I went elsewhere. At the time, it was a 2 year gig and they were pretty vague about what happened after that. Lifestyle seemed good and the entry level comp was competitive though. The culture may vary a lot by office.

 

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