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The revival of the M&A banker
20 May 2009
Could it be that the job market downturn is over for the humble M&A/corporate finance professional? Maybe so, given the sudden revival of interest in their trade.
As Reuters pointed out yesterday, building in M&A is all the rage. Daiwa’s doing it. So is Mizuho (which has hired 10 M&A bankers in the past 18 months, but isn’t committing to numbers for its future expansion). So is SocGen. So are boutiques such as Centerview Partners, Moelis & Co, and Qatalyst. And so are investment banks like Credit Suisse and Deutsche.
Does this mean things are now looking up for M&A jobs? That depends upon who you talk to.
One senior M&A headhunter says there is now “sector-wide hiring at a senior level.”
The head of corporate finance at one international search firm says M&A hiring is coming back, but that it never really went away. “Right through this downturn, there has been a substantial amount of interest in recruiting senior M&A people who will be revenue incremental,” he says. “The big difference now is that stability is encouraging people to make decisions on those hires.”
However, another headhunter in the sector says there’s nothing noteworthy going on: “At major houses it’s still gap filling rather than upgrading. Apart from that, most of the recruitment is of fairly rubbish people who are being hoovered up by the 2nd tier.”
Is the M&A banker the new Goldman Sachs?
Jack 20 May 2009
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