vandygrad11 wrote:
gmatsaga wrote:
Thanks for the reply, vandygrad11!
Anyway, I am working on a restructuring engagement right now of one of the biggest conglomerates here in the country. Basically, the chairman emeritus desires to incorporate a holding company that will 'hold' all of his companies. Thing is, he is planning to retire soon and he plans to hand each company (companies range from a bank to an airline company to a consumer goods company) to his sons and daughters. The chairman would want the restructuring to happen not on a cash basis but on a share swap basis.
My previous engagement was a sell-side assist of an acquisition. I worked with a client who wanted to cash-in on his business and plans to sell it to a private equity investor. Basically, what I did was to value the company's share (of course gave a range of possible values) and presented it. The talks are now on-going between the private equity investor and the owner.
These are just examples of the wide range of services that KPMG offers.
However, I think I like investment banking more. When I was in college I had the fortunate opportunity to be an intern in a bulge bracket (JPMorgan). I just thought that investment banking was "sexier" haha hope you could shed some light on this.
All the best,
Dave
Sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe we should switch jobs! I would like to get into consulting doing exactly the type of work that you've described. By the way, you do a great job of explaining those engagements. I've run into a lot of people who tend to leave the reader/listener more confused than they began with after explaining their work.
As you know, investment banking is a very cyclical industry. The industry tends to be very irrational, hiring at boom times and "right-sizing" at the bottoms of the troughs. At the entry levels, it is anything but sexy. You don't begin to focus on the "sexy" parts (client services, finding deals, and closing deals, for instance) until you're a VP. It seems to me as though this is the case in almost all professional services. I've also found many of my colleagues to be assholes, at best. That said, it's a great experience to learn about companies, which is the reason that I got into it.
Did you try to pursue an entry level gig at JP Morgan or other firms? What did you think of the culture there?
Anyway, I tried to pursue an entry level gig at JPM. However, as you said in the above post, investment banking is very cyclical. I don't really know what happened. On one hand, I tell myself that the the financial markets in this country are still very immature. There's no such thing as a derivatives (options, futures, etc.) market here in the Philippines. Hell, the fixed income market here is as dormant as a sleeping volcano. That being said, I told myself that maybe the reason was something "external" from me. On the other hand, I tell myself that maybe I wasn't just "intellectually gifted" for the job, maybe they just didn't like me or they thought I wasn't ready. Oh well, it nothing but futile to think about the real reason right? As with all things in life, one has to move on.
I also tried landing analyst positions in other firms - Credit Suisse, BNP Paribas, ING, CLSA (subsidiary of Credit Agricole), Deutsche Bank, etc. - to no avail. There are many jobs here but most (if not all) of them are back-office related (customer service representative, business process outsourcing, knowledge process outsourcing). Although they offered lucrative stipends, I made a sure that I jumpstarted my job in which there's career growth. Also, I needed a job that would "look good" in front of admissions officers two to four years down the road; hence, KPMG.
For your last question, I can say that the culture in JP Morgan (just JP Morgan) is a bit cut throat. I remember a time when someone brought a pillow with him in the office because he "was pulling an all-nighter." I think this is the case for most investment banks. For instance, I talked to an equity analyst in my firm and she said that in Deutsche Bank (her former employer) a fellow analyst would point her in the face if she did something wrong. So, I believe that you saying that "most of your co-workers are assholes, at best" has some light of truth about it. I don't know. Maybe you could give concrete examples?
Anyway, that's it for now. Hope to hear from you soon.
All the best,
Dave