Differences Between Leveraged Finance and DCM

by Matt - August 26, 2016October 21, 20180

What is Leveraged Finance? Leveraged finance ("LevFin") is in its official capacity a debt capital markets (DCM) group. However, when investment bankers refer to DCM they are almost always referring to investment grade debt capital markets. Levfin is in practice treated as a separate product group. Functionally, the two roles end up

Early Bond Redemption Analysis

by Matt - August 25, 2016February 25, 20180

Early Retirement of Debt for Capital Structure Debt Capital Markets may approach companies to discuss opportunistically retiring outstanding debt before the natural maturity date. As bonds are contractual obligations for a set period of time, the early paydown of debt must be negotiated unless there is a provision that allows for

What Are: Crude Oil & Natural Gas

Energy

by Matt - August 23, 2016February 25, 20180

What is Oil? Oil is the most important commodity in the world, offering the most liquid and “customizable” (in terms of blends and location benchmarks) market for trade and with a dollar volume moved per day far ahead of iron ore, gold or any other standardized physical good. Over 90 million

What Does A Bad Week In Investment Banking Look Like

Culture

by Matt - August 23, 2016August 23, 20180

A Bad Week/Month/Stretch in Investment Banking Investment banking is pretty great, but when things are bad people generally think about leaving. When answering interview questions such as: Do you really want to do investment banking? What do you think a bad week in IB looks like? How do we know you

Checking Your Work in Investment Banking

Culture

by Matt - August 15, 2016July 21, 20180

Investment Banking Work Must Be Flawless You may have heard that you cannot make mistakes or make the same mistake twice in investment banking. Well, what happens when you make mistakes? Investment banking has great self-correction mechanisms - you get yelled at or feel the radiant heat of disapproval from higher ups. After

Private Equity in Canada

by Matt - August 7, 2016March 19, 20180

Private equity is widely considered to be the ideal exit from investment banking in the US and the UK. The idea is that the work is more interesting, the hours are shorter and the firms are more prestigious. However, the private equity landscape is different in Canada – the global megafunds

What Goes Into an Investment Banking Pitch Book?

Investment Banking Fit Questions

by Matt - August 2, 2016December 8, 20180

This is a common interview question that not a lot of candidates are prepared for. Bankers like to ask this because it shows that the candidate actually knows what materials bankers use on a regular basis to communicate their ideas to clients. This is usually used along with the question: "So what