eFinancialCareers

Sovereign wealth funds' investments in international markets have so far yielded some big losses, but this hasn’t dented their appetite for overseas investments or, it seems, for recruiting international expertise. Dubai International Capital recently made two senior hires (after sacking seven of its investment staff), and Abu-Dhabi Investment Company (ADIC) also took on two senior staff, including former Fidelity chief financial officer, Chris Coombes. ADIC tells us it’s in expansion... Read more

A salary survey from US private equity headhunter Glocap Search LLC sounds a favourable note for anyone working in private equity or contemplating leaving investment banking for a new life on the buyside. While investment banking bonuses are unquestionably falling, Glocap’s ‘indepth analysis of 2008/09 compensation at US-based private equity funds,’ suggests PE pay is actually increasing. Bonuses at the largest venture funds (those with $2bn or more under management) are... Read more

Everyone else may be heavily occupied with watching paint dry, but financial institutions group (FIG) teams are BUSY. According to Thomson Reuters, FIG-related deal activity was on a par only with energy and power in the first nine months of this year. Unfortunately, no small amount of this activity has been undertaken on behalf of governments. The Wall Street Journal points out that year-to-date investment in financial institutions by the... Read more

With credit totally frozen and markets totally awful, anyone out of a job now – and anyone who thinks they might soon be out of a job – can be forgiven for hoarding canned sardines and buying underwear in Primark. But something is still good: renewable technology. In the second quarter of this year, global investment in renewables was up 65% on the second quarter of 2006, according to research... Read more

Guy Hands, the angelic progenitor of Terra Firma Capital, is in the Financial Times today with some frightening thoughts about the future for private equity (PE) jobs and pay. For anyone who’s missed it, here are Hands’ horrid homilies to his private equity colleagues: • General partners' income will fall 75% as a result of the crisis. • There will be fewer people working in the industry in future. Hands isn’t the only private equity... Read more

Forget the fact that the big leveraged deal is dead – headhunters and practitioners are adamant that now is the perfect time to begin a career in private equity. The rationale is seductively simple: funds invested at low prices during downturns tend to do better than those invested at higher prices at market peaks. For those involved, this translates into higher long-term income. "If you look back over a one, three,... Read more

Remember all those in-house private equity funds staffed by investment bankers when times were good? What’s happening to them now banks are eager to preserve every last drop of capital on their balance sheet? It’s not altogether pretty, according to some with their fingers on the principal finance pulse. “Private equity groups in investment banks are coming under pressure because capital is in short supply,” says one headhunter. “Banks are... Read more

The lack of liquidity in credit markets means mezzanine funds, which fill the gap between equity debt and traditional bank loans, are hot. But the bad news for anyone hoping to find work in the sector is that they’re not doing a lot of hiring. In a measure of the health of the mezz market, private equity firm Octopus Investments says it’s seen at least twice as many companies... Read more

Barclays Capital is said to have trimmed 20 people from its leveraged finance team (Independent), Citi is said to have cut its team in half (Private Equity Online), JPMorgan’s said to have chopped leveraged financiers in New York (Dealbreaker) and probably in London, and there’s been heavy trimming at ABN AMRO (Bloomberg). If you’re one of these people, or if you’re a leveraged financier working elsewhere and fear you might... Read more

It was a good week for hedge funds – unless you were GLG. Banks were still busily lopping staff, although there were rays of hiring in commodities and – strangely enough – leveraged finance. Hedge funds provided reasons to be cheerful. Hedge Fund Research predicted investors plan to pour $200bn into hedge funds this year. ICAP launched an African hedge fund. It emerged that the replica hedge funds... Read more

Failed in London? Try Sydney or New York. Rumour has it there are private equity jobs to be had in both cities. Predictably, however, only gainfully employed, top-of-the-class investment bankers need apply. Bloomberg ran a story earlier this week claiming that European private equity funds are taking advantage of the cheap dollar and expanding into the US. Permira, Apax Partners, BC Partners, Cinven and CVC Capital Partners are... Read more

Once the career of choice for investment bankers eager for carried interest, private equity is suddenly looking vulnerable. Don’t count it out just yet, though. On one hand, the prognosis isn’t great. Figures from Dealogic suggest leveraged buyouts fell by two thirds between January and March, and dud investments whose debt exceeds their value are back on the scene. The industry’s great and good have also started making ominous rumblings.... Read more

As many as two thirds of ABN’s leveraged financiers are reportedly being culled by RBS this week. It’s a sorry state of affairs. The Financial Times’ Alphaville blog drew attention to the pain at the Dutch bank yesterday, with the news that the entire mortgage securitization team was cut on Tuesday and that leveraged financiers are next in line today. According to Bloomberg, RBS is cutting 200 jobs all together, with a... Read more

The hot air surrounding the pensions buyout space is finally turning into substance, and guess what? Hiring looks set to follow. The buyout market has long been touted as a sector set to explode, but some bumper deals have thrown it into the spotlight. Last week, Rothesay Life, the life insurer wholly owned by Goldman Sachs, secured a £700m deal with leisure retailer Rank Group, and buyout firm Paternoster took on... Read more

2008 is tipped to be the year for distressed debt, and hedge funds are looking to bolster their teams in anticipation of a surge. The post-credit-crunch collapse has seen bond prices slump, sparking more interest in the counter-cyclical distressed debt sector as both hedge funds and private equity funds battle for a piece of the action. HSBC’s alternative investment group told Reuters that the ‘next strategy is distressed debt’ and everywhere... Read more

Guy Hands has hammered a few more nails into the coffin of the fast declining leveraged finance profession. Mr Hands (he of EMI and bankers are whimpering dogs fame) says nastier times may be in store for bankers who make it their business to arrange financing for big buyout groups. With bankers barely able (or quite simply totally unable) to fund their own writedowns, and another $200bn of LBO debt still in... Read more

Forget mega deals. Now may be the time to reposition yourself as an expert on all things mid-market. While big deals are being battered by the chill winds of the credit crunch, their teeny weeny cousins are bearing up better in the nasty credit climate. Figures from Thomson Financial show that fees earned by banks from M&A deals worth $1bn-plus are down 51% in year to date 2008, but fees... Read more

It’s enough to make the average analyst feel faint: Terra Firma is being sued over a flaw in one of its models. According to the Financial Times, and numerous other sources, Terra Firma's being put on the spot over a fault related to cash flow calculations for Boxclever. The dodgy model allegedly served to inflate calculations of the net present value of Boxclever's TV rentals business. The company was duly refinanced by... Read more

What a difference 12 months can make. Bang? Last January, financial sponsor bankers were on the brink of something big. European private equity deals totalled $239bn in 2007, according to Thomson Financial, and the average fees earned by every single banker in the financial sponsor business were £580k, according to the British Venture Capital Association. This year, with private equity a shadow of its former self and mega-deals dead and... Read more