eFinancialCareers

It might be freezing at the top, but leveraged finance professionals may see a glimmer of hope in the small and mid markets.

JPMorgan is lopping leveraged financiers and big leveraged buyouts may have been put on hold following the credit crunch, but it’s not bad news all round. Mid-market deals worth less than €500m are far outstripping those valued at €1bn-plus for the first time in two years. In September alone there were 243 deals worth €500m or less, and only eight in the €1bn or above bracket.

Peter Llewellyn, a consultant at recruitment firm Finnemore Banks, says: “Leveraged finance has seen a massive slowdown since August, and the majority of the bulge bracket banks have frozen on recruitment. There are some opportunities in mid-tier organisations.”

He adds: “Within that bracket only a select few are hiring. Competition is pretty intense, the players in the middle market may be able to get experienced people, but there is very little movement in that area as a whole.”

Jim Nairn, consultant at Cornell Partnerships, says: “The tier two or three firms who have historically been targeting smaller deals still offer some opportunities for leverage professionals.”

The top five most active firms in European mid-market buyouts worth less than €500m from July to early October were Blackstone Group, Barclays Private Equity, 3i Group, Hutton Collins & Co., and Eurazeo, according to data from Dealogic.