Infrastructure

Life worked out in a weird way and I'm looking to get a dual degree with a good MBA (that's the hope at least) in the next few years, with an expected age of graduation around 32 or so. I'm specifically targeting Infra PE firms (independents, pensions, MFs, etc.), and am trying to lateral into a project finance role currently with the federal government (think DFC, DOE, DOT, etc.), giving me a somewhat unconventional background, but with an inside look at how some loan programs are administered that institutional investors use. Have previous experience in the NNN RE space and other credit

25 Dec 2020

I was hoping to hear about some alternative paths to infrastructure private equity outside of the typical 2 year IB analyst window. Does an infrastructure project financing role on the sell-side help make that leap or do you have to sort of hop into an IB associate role along the way? Other thoughts on the matter appreciated

08 Apr 2020

Hi all, I have a modeling exam and interview coming up for an Infra-focused PE. For the purpose of passing the test, I was wondering about the difference between infra PE vs traditional PE modeling exam. I would like to ask how your experience was. What variables/inputs were you given with? From my understanding the former involves more project finance-focused elements while the latter is more centered around LBO stuff... For those of you who have gone through recruiting processes, I would greatly appreciate your insights...

04 Apr 2021

So I've come across a new sector in real estate (read: title) that kind of had me interested. Does anyone have any experience with investing in social housing, healthcare and social infrastructure when it comes to real estate? Would love to understand more about your experience, how you approach an investment and general strategy. Also, how transferable is the skill set that you build in roles such as this? Obviously, the technical part is covered, but to me it seems like the underwriting process, DD and general transaction analysis is rather specific, which makes me think it could be

24 Mar 2021

Hi everyone, I few weeks ago I joined one of the biggest pension funds in Mexico (Over 50bn usd), specifically in the Private Equity division, as an Infrastructure&Energy Analsyt after being 2 years as a market risk analyst in another pension fund, so pretty good job in FO buy side as LP (Limited Partner). But now, almost at the same time I started my new job, I got contacted to start the recruitment process at GS in IBD as an Junior Analyst. I know the most common thing is going from IB to PE, but this PE is referred as KKR, Blackstone, etc. but what about PE from the perspective of a pension

10 Mar 2021

Which verticals within PubFin are best for exits or development of transferrable skills to either PE or traditional IB? I was thinking it would probably be P3, Transportation, or Healthcare given that they might have greater exposure to traditional modeling, but I would appreciate some light shed in this regard. Additionally, what about groups that cover land-secured deals (e.g. California Community Facilities District) with regard to the aforementioned development or career mobility opportunities? Thanks a lot!

28 Feb 2021

It's a challenging deal environment out there for infrastructure investors. Particularly for credit investors, as borrowers can tap into so many sources of cheap credit: 1. For public companies, since bond markets are rocking there is no interest in a non-recourse financing with an asset manager. 2. Private borrowers: if you can tap into the bank debt market, credit is being given away by banks without any prepayment penalties, and the Term Loan B, US Private placement, and 144a market are all on fire. Relative value is very hard to come by. Anyone else out there dealing with this?

28 Feb 2021

Can anyone give some insight into how CIBC does in Power & Infrastructure versus the other banks? I assume they are quite strong within Canada but how are they perceived in the US / globally? How competitive is the group when it comes to buyside placement into top GPs / LPs?

20 Feb 2021

Hi all, Long-time reader, first-time poster from Singapore. Quick summary of my background: Graduated in 2018, and started working for the Infrastructure Advisory team of a Big 4 firm in 2019. It piqued my interest in the infrastructure financing space, but growing in the role was tough, as our team handed off the modelling work on our mandates to the Valuation guys, so there wasn't a whole lot of skill development (especially in modelling). It's proven to be a significant setback when interviewing for other positions, as employers already expect me to have decent modelling capabilities

10 Feb 2021

Does anyone have any info on Ares Power and Infrastructure group in regards to their recruiting process, group culture, and comp? Based on what I can find via LinkedIn it seems like they hire externally at both the analyst and associate level from a mix of IB and project finance backgrounds.

01 Feb 2021

What are the top-performing Power & Utilities, Infrastructure, Renewables/Green Energy groups on the street? Would appreciate updated takes from 2019-2020+

22 Jan 2021

For all the euro-slinging monkeys on the continent, does anyone know what the infrastructure PE + project finance lending scene is like in Amsterdam? I would imagine ING has a large team for that there. That being said, does anyone know of other firms in the infra space in Amsterdam? Here's what I know off the top of my head: ING DIF Capital Partners (one of the larger PE firms I think) APG (investment management team for a Dutch pension fund) Also, does anyone know what the culture/lifestyle/comp is at these and similar firms, and whether they hire non-Dutch staff (but other English-speaking

15 Dec 2020

Hello all - I have a final round coming up for an infrastructure fund focused on telecom, airports, roads. I have read a lot of posts on modeling type of case studies and am comfortable with those, but can someone provide tips or general idea of how more on-the-spot type of case questions would like? I'm currently guessing market sizing type of questions or modelling approach? I frankly have no project finance experience, just TMT experience for the most part, so any tips / pointers would be appreciated. Thank you!

06 Apr 2020

Hi everyone, I've gotten experience in real estate at a small investment firm as well as currently interning in Power, Utilities, and Infrastructure investment banking. Having these experiences, I really enjoy both niche industries but as I'm looking into my next year summer and specifically placement day for a different bank, I'm not sure which group I would enjoy more. Looking at the trajectory for both industries, do you think either one is a better place to be, in terms of industry growth or compensation or any other factors? Thank you so much!

16 Nov 2020

Hello everyone, I have been interviewing for a project finance role at a power company. The job description did not ask for specific project / infrastructure finance experience. I did first two rounds which HR and hiring manager. For the third round, they sent a 48 hour case analysis for two solar power plants. This was my first time building a model for power plants. When I was about to submit my model I realized the DSCR was off. I submitted anyway because I was running out of time. I have a model review round with the hiring manager on Wednesday. The DSCR issue was simply because of a cell

16 Nov 2020

There doesn't seem to be a lot of infrastructure topics on WSO, so I was wondering if anyone knew the top groups within the space. Tried back-searching on LinkedIn and I'm still unsure. Thank you!

12 Nov 2020

Hi, question up front: I am interested in getting into energy infrastructure investing, specifically renewables, hydrogen, power transmission, etc., either on the equity or debt side. I am wondering whether the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) cert is a possible way in as someone from a non-finance background. I am in Europe and would prefer to work in either Europe, the Middle East (Dubai), or Canada. Additional details: I am currently working at a Big 4 in Europe mostly doing due diligence on integrity, reputational, and regulatory risks (i.e. corruption, bribery, conflicts of

08 Nov 2020

Hi all, I am late stages in an interview process with a big 4 Infrastructure Advisory team and the interviewer mentioned the next stage will be a 2 hour modelling test then an interview to discuss the analysis/recommendations. I am from Australia and the interviews so far have not been in person due to the COVID environment would anyone have ideas on what to expect here? They do a lot of renewable energy deals (solar, hydro) so I have been looking at some examples but I am curious given the 2 hour time frame what would be expected? I am imagining modelling a 20-30 year contract based on the

01 Nov 2020

Hey there, I have modelling test coming up for the CIM Groups relatively new infrastructure team - anyone have any experience with this, though it does seem like a relatively new and small group compared to the RE side. Curious as in the first round the guy threw in some CRE-esque questions so curious if I should be prepared for something like that despite it being a discrete infra platform. Thanks!

27 Oct 2020

Hey Folks, I've just completed a Spring Insight (London) at Macquarie and been fast tracked to a super-day in May for their Infrastructure Debt Group (MIDIS). I found the work and the team super interesting and well-rounded. However my question is how to prepare for such a niche group. Is there some readings/books/models in particular I should look up? What concepts should I familiarise myself with and which website/resources would be a good start. Moreover I find International Development / Infra PE as my end goal but would love to dally in traditional finance too. I was also at the Lazard

25 Apr 2019

Hey everyone, long-time lurker/poster but recently made a new account. My dilemma is as follows: got an offer to be an analyst for an infrastructure investment firm, the day I went to sign the contract they said they'd need me to help the advisory team too (they do advisory, direct investments, and asset management), and I said okay. Although I was unhappy about I tried to look on the bright side since I'd be getting a more varied transaction experience. Now my involvement on the deal team is deplorable, I honestly feel cheated, I came to invest in infrastructure and rejected other offers for

10 Jul 2018

I received an interview question that asked about the purchase price of an infrastructure business assuming a target IRR of 15%, max debt to cap of 70%, useful life of 30 years and operating inputs were provided to get to CFADS. The modeling test prompted a debt structure with a 5% cost of debt. The questions were: (1) what is the purchase price; (2) what is the IRR assuming a year 10 exit; (3) what is the IRR assuming a year 5 exit. What is the "appropriate" and "simple" way to model the debt structure? I assumed a simple 7 year LBO (1% amort and say 50% excess cash sweeps in each year), but

10 Aug 2020

Hello WSO, I have been a long time lurker, and this is my first post (or maybe I am one of the top rated authors who decided to make a post anonymously). I have noticed a certain lack of information about infrastructure investing on WSO, and those threads that are created from time to time, are long on questions and short on answers, especially on answers from actual industry insiders. With this in mind, I have decided to make this post and cover the following topics: * What infrastructure PE is and how it is different from traditional PE * General info about infra PE landscape * Key players

02 Jan 2017

I have an interview coming up and I was wondering if anyone had any Infrastructure PE case studies that they'd be willing to send me? Am willing to Venmo a few dollars in exchange. Thanks all!

20 Jun 2020

I know its not an exciting topic but would really just like to hear the community's opinion. I recall one of my professors always mentioning how engineers should get more involved politically as we need to tackle so many science related issues climate, energy, and my personal favourite infrastructure. So, why don't they? Compared to other nations we have the traditional law backgrounds where as most Chinese leaders are scientists or engineers, President Hu Jintao is a hydraulics engineer, Premier Wen Jiabao a geologist and Angela Merkel trained as a physical chemist. In regards to China they

06 Jun 2016

Hi I will be starting as a full-time analyst at a BB in their Public Finance IB group (firm usually ranked top3 in muni underwriting). I was wondering how I could break into Infrastructure Banking/PE later on in my career? I know Public Finance and Infrastructure Investing have slight similarities and major differences, so I wanted to just start preparing myself to end up in Infra Banking/PE. Thank you in advance for the insight.

25 May 2020

First time writing at WSO. I've been spectator for some time - finding this website has been the best thing ever happened to me. I'm saying this because now I have few decisions to make! FYI. I have always been interested in infrastructure and project finance. Option 1) Public Finance role at BB Option 2) Well respected Infra PE firm (~10bn AUM) Option 3) PE role at Pension Fund's in-house Infra Investment group (~20bn AUM) Option 2,3 are most compelling as these would entail direct investing in infra. Public fin role at BB isn't so attractive compared to 2 and 3 in my opinion. What do you

17 Oct 2017

Hi fellow monkeys, long-time lurker here. I am planning to apply to top MBA programs in the US this upcoming fall and would appreciate your insight on a tough decision that I have to make. Right now I've been with a Big 4 Corporate Finance practice in Continental Europe for a few years (and worked at a boutique consultancy before that). My group focuses on Infrastructure & Energy-related deals (mostly PPPs though), so I recently started reaching out to headhunters to see if there are any opportunities at infrastructure-related PE funds for people like me. I would love switching to a fund with

17 Apr 2018

Hi All, This is my first post on this site. I appreciate you taking the time to review my question. I have a final round coming up with Macquarie Capital's Infrastructure group and I am looking for guidance on how to answer "How would you value a Wind Farm/Toll Road/Airport/Port/etc.". Does anyone know what level of detail is expected for this question or what good looks like in regards to answering it? Unfortunately, the financial modelling program I bought doesn't cover Infrastructure. I have done my best to make up for it by reading Infrastructure Industry reports and reviewing Corality

08 Mar 2020

Got asked by my friend on an interview question about how to value 20% equity stake in a single asset power company with a remaining concession of 15 years. My thinking is as follows: 1. Project the financials of the company for 15 years till the end of concession 2. Calculate the FCFE (primarily dividends + capital redemption at the end of the concession) for the projection period 3. Calculate the cost of equity using CAPM and relever the cost of equity by the capital structure of the company across the projection period on a rolling basis. 4. Discount FCFE by rolling cost of equity to derive

02 Aug 2017

Hi fellow monkeys, I have a very tough decision to make. I have been a generalist for almost 2 years now and will be moving to an industry team within my BB. However I can not make a decision whether to go to Infrastructure or Healthcare. I like both sectors and can imagine myself working in either. I understand there are quite big differences in terms of exit opportunities and skill sets which makes my decision very difficult. One thing to consider, I am currently working in London, but would like to move at some point across the pond and join a PE/Infra fund or even stay in banking. But I am

23 Apr 2017

Hi, Any monkeys with wisdom to impart on Infra PE? (i) Which players garner respect in the industry other than Macquarie? (not only have capital but are seen as being intelligent investors) (ii) Does the career path differ from traditional PE? i.e. Is it easier to move into at the Senior Associate/VP level for someone without sector investing experience because it's a less mature asset class than traditional PE? (iii) How are pension funds and sovereigns viewed in this space? They seem to be more active in infra vs. traditional PE deals where they've largely been limited to co-invests. (iv)

04 Nov 2014

WSO Team - I am looking to move from a banking role into an infrastructure private equity fund. I have had a few interviews already - nothing too technical - but am being asked to come in and take a modeling test. Does anyone have advice or tips/tricks for an infrastructure related modeling test? Unsure if it would be typical LBO modeling or if it would be more similar to three statements and contract/cash flow modeling. Would appreciate any advice from the more experienced folks out there who have gone through this process before.

20 Jan 2020

Hi monkeys! The agony of choice ... which one would you go for? Both are full time experienced Analyst positions in London. Thanks!

12 Jan 2015

Does anyone have insight on MacCap's energy infrastructure group (culture / compensation / exit opportunities etc.)? I know this is their top group and they are strong in the space. Additionally, I know it's a mixture of advisory / IB work along with principal investing - a unique opportunity.

26 Dec 2019

Does anyone have insights into the infrastructure finance & advisory team at J.P. Morgan? It seems like they're looking to hire and expand and are a relatively new team within IBD. Looking to learn more about what they do on deals vs. other coverage teams and what exit opps are like. Thanks!

05 Jul 2018

I was just wondering how this group compares with other groups at banks in terms of exit opportunities, team culture, deal flow and any other miscellaneous factors that I may have forgotten

13 Feb 2012

In case you guys missed it, here's a link to President Obama's State of the Union speech from WSJ. As always, I really enjoy listening to the President speak. Regardless of policy, I think it's important for us monkeys to listen to this speech. Some of the topics discussed include: the economy, jobs, taxes, innovation/technology, education, immigration, infrastructure, and healthcare. I think it's one of the better speeches in the last couple years. The only thing left is to see how he follows through on his promises. WSJ: Pres. Obama's Speech

26 Jan 2011

Hello all, I'm interested in finding quality primer level information that describes the various financing options for an infrastructure project. As a CFO/management team think about how to capitalize their assets (let's exclude renewables for now due to the tax equity component), how to think through the merits of use a private placement bond, a bank loan, a term loan B product. A good primer will have the key differences between debt types: fixed vs. floating rate, maturity limits (will vary for investment grade vs. sub-investment grade), covenant restrictions, etc.

08 Nov 2019

Hi all, I'm a buy side equity analyst with a private equity for about a year. My boss and I have discussed that in the interest of both the fund and myself I should try to specialise in an industry/sector over the next six months. Our chosen industry is infrastructure. My next action is to devise a six month plan to become a specialist in this industry, and the goal is to know "better than the management themselves" about their businesses and the sector. I'm a bit perplexed as to what is involved to acquire such high level of knowledge. For those of you who have become specialists in a certain industry, what do you think are the most helpful things you've done to become an expert analyst in that industry? Many thanks!

11 Jan 2012

Hi targeted at infra bankers (M&A), specifically toll roads Can anyone please explain comprehensively what a ramp-up reserve is? (with context of a toll road) Would be greatly appreciated! Cheers -GS

08 Jan 2014

Hi All, I've worked in Investment Consulting for 3 years and progressing well but am considering a change. I'm looking at Ernst and Young and their Government Infrastructure Advisory roles. From the blurb "The EY Lead Advisory practice focuses on providing sector focused corporate finance advice across a range of transactional activity including infrastructure projects, M&A, debt advisory, finance raising and commercial advisory." Does anyone know what day to day work would be like in this sort of roll? Presumably it trains you to become a "jack of all trades" but master of none?

28 Apr 2014

Did 1 year in TMT at a MM IB (think HL/JEFF/PJ), then moved to a Tier 2 place for 1.5yrs (think NOM/RBC/HSBC) to do Power, Utils & Infra and now have an offer at an Infra PE fund. Fund is about $5bn AUM (so not big), but deal flow is very high (quite possibly highest in the infra PE space) so name is fairly well known in infra. Plan is to do 2/3 years there and take a punt at top tier MBA (H/S/W), and hopefully land a VC gig. Does that sound like a plausible plan? Naturally I expect my lack of TMT experience to be a negative relative to people who did TMT in IB, but is VC still attainable?

21 Jan 2016

Upcoming interview and ING for infrastructure finance. Anybody have experience with the group or exposure to infrastructure more widely?

25 Nov 2016

Currently seeking advice and general thoughts on the infrastructure landscape (disclosure: I am a 2nd year analyst in an energy coverage group). To anyone currently working/ has worked in infrastructure PE: 1. How did you break into infrastructure (i.e. relevant coverage group during IB years, MBA, etc.) 2. How do you guys view the changing landscape? Especially with the "increased popularity" of P3s 3. With so much dry powder available right now, and with guys like BX raising ~$40bn funds, how do your firms think about the challenges of generating sufficient returns from large-scale

07 Feb 2018

Hi everyone, what should one prepare for an infrastructure asset management interview? I am currently going over DCFs but I'm not sure how in-depth I should know it and how to do a DCF for infrastructure as the forecast should go beyond the standard 5 years....I would really appreciate any help I can get as well as other technical and behavioral questions I should expect... Thank you!

31 Aug 2019

I've got a final round with Macquaire Toronto, and I would love to hear from anyone who is familiar with the final round interview process for analysts! Thanks in advance!

10 Oct 2008

Hey guys, Now that I have my summer worked out I'm starting to explore what I want to pursue for FT in the fall. I'm definitely pretty firm on staying in the energy/infrastructure space but I've recently been looking into Project Finance groups. I'm not concerned with exit ops just something that really interests me. What are some of the best firms/groups for project finance (in terms of deal flow/prestige/size)? Thanks alot in advance,

10 Feb 2011

Hi all, I was wondering if there are some infrastructure private equity firms/funds that hire post-MBA? One I can think of is CPP Investment Board. But I was wondering if there are any others? Also, are there any with New York based offices? Thanks!

20 Dec 2013

There was recently a job posting for the Morgan Stanley Infrastructure (MSI) ($4B private equity style fund) for a portfolio analyst. Looks like the primary role would be to assist in marketing/fundraising for the fund. Does anyone know any more about MSI or about this type of position? The fund looks really badass. They invest in everything from natural gas pipelines to parking meters in Chicago. I know several people applied (600+), and i realize asking on WSO is a shot in the dark, but has anyone heard back?

11 Dec 2012