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Voices of finance: analyst at a private equity and corporate finance boutique | Joris

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  • Voices of finance: analyst at a private equity and corporate finance boutique | Joris


    'We do some of the things that major investment banks do, but for smaller players – both in the UK and internationally'
    We meet for drinks one almost-chilly London summer evening, somewhere in Islington. He is one of those young men who came over from the European continent, determined to make their mark in the City. Having studied law back home he landed internships in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) with major banks, until finding a job with a boutique financial firm. A former top athlete now in his mid-20s, he is tall and slender. These days he enjoys his beer, and a smoke now and then. It is 8.30pm when we sit down with a pint.

    "Life here in the City is incredibly stimulating. Most of my friends back home are settling down, whereas I feel I am growing every day. In the City you feel you are at the centre of things, I get to see up close some of the most successful business people in the world. I can't tell you how exciting that is.

    "Some of my friends are saying that I am in London 'for the money only'. They really don't get it. I get paid OK but at the end of the month I am aching for my salary to come in, like most people. Only people at the very top receive the huge bonuses. And they have been slaving away to get to this point since they were nine, studying like mad to get in the right school in order to go the right university and then plotting to get the right internship at the right bank in order to make the next step, and then the next. For them this is more than a job. It's a life.

    "And they do insane hours, I mean insane. When I was interning with a big investment bank in the City, my boss told me that during his first year there, he had had three days off. That was including weekends. Half of the time that first year he had slept in the office. And as I said, when you're coming in like him, the money isn't great.

    "If I still had been working in M&A with a big bank, we couldn't have met. I would have still been in the office. That life could be intense. You'd be at your desk Friday evening at seven praying your boss would not, on his way out, drop by and dump hours of more work on your desk – as would happen very often. Imagine you have friends or family over from abroad, they have come in large part to see you and then you have to work all weekend. You end up seeing them maybe for an hour.

    "I am glad I have done M&A for a while because it is a great first job. You learn to valuate companies, you learn to read company statements and M&A teaches you stamina, forces you to persevere. All very useful, but it did get pretty boring pretty soon. Banks have these incredible requirements and demands if you want to intern there.

    "But once I was in, well, the work wasn't rocket science. We'd have to create a so-called pitch book [presentation by the bank to a client to win new business]. My task would be to collect information, straightforward stuff from open sources, on a given company's eight competitors. I'd compile key figures, trading multiples and comparables [figures used to determine the value of a company] etc for all of them, copy and paste these into spreadsheets and columns and get everything to look good … At times, I wondered why they didn't outsource it to India.

    "Occasionally I'd be there when we presented our report to a client and I would see the client flip through the whole thing in 10 seconds.

    "What I do now is I work for a corporate finance and private equity boutique firm in Mayfair. This means we do some of the things that major investment banks do, but for smaller players – both in the UK and internationally. Personally, this means I get to be involved in a much wider range of activities: investing in companies, setting up a venture capital fund for big investors looking to invest in technology companies, helping companies secure financing from banks, using our network of contacts to help a client.

    "We are still a young company and in a year's time we may have developed in who knows what direction. It's great, because I get exposed to loads of different and interesting transactions."
    Joris Luyendijk

    guardian.co.uk © 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

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