Exit Opportunities for Corporate Credit
Referring to teams in corporate credit that seem to work closely with Investment Banking but are more like commercial credit, e.g. JPM / BofA / Citi.
These seem like the middle of the road roles where you are heavily involved in credit analysis but are only offering syndicated loans or underwriting them. I've been told WLB is consequently better too.
But what type of exits do these roles have? From the outside, it seems that people gain really good technical skills but perhaps exits into similar roles like Direct Lending would be easier through LevFin in IBD?
Would really appreciate any insights from anyone who is knowledgeable in this area.
Based on the most helpful WSO content, there are several exit opportunities for roles in corporate credit. Here are some of the common ones:
Debt Investing: This is a common exit opportunity, especially for those involved in corporate banking. This could involve private credit funds, CLOs, and other credit funds.
Private Equity (PE): Although this is not as common, there have been instances of exits to PE.
Investment Banking (IB): Some have transitioned to roles in investment banking.
Corporate Development (Corp Dev): This is another potential exit opportunity.
Business School (B School): Some choose to further their education and go to business school.
Management Consulting: This is another career path that some choose to take.
Treasurer Roles: At the VP and up level, common exits are treasurer roles, sometimes CFO roles, & other banks.
Credit-Related Roles: These could include Mezzanine, LevFin, Financial Sponsors, Direct Lending, FI trading desk, Credit Research at an institutional asset management shop, and even a MM PE shop.
Lateral Moves within the Bank: Laterals within the bank to IB are also quite common.
Remember, like anything, exit ops are up to you. In corporate banking, you will learn how to understand and think about a company's capital structure. You'll learn a lot about the syndicated loan market as well as about DCM in general. This knowledge can be very valuable and open up a variety of opportunities.
Sources: BB Corporate Banking Exit Opps?, Corporate Banking?, An Overview of Corporate Banking, Leveraged Finance Exit Opportunities
I currently work on a similar team (technically FO at a balance sheet bank but basically corporate banking / corporate credit) and will be joining a MM private credit shop next year. I was in mid-late stages with some very solid DL firms before ultimately accepting this offer so exiting directly to private credit is definitely possible (still a grind) coming from this kind of background. If you're at a BB doing corporate credit it might be even easier given better branding.
For interviews, you need to have a compelling story behind why you want to go to the buy-side and have your deal walkthroughs, technicals, credit investment approach / framework and modeling down cold because people will sometimes unfairly assume your technical skills are weaker vs. those of the typical LevFin IBD candidate. Lateraling to a LevFin IBD role is also doable but if your ultimate goal is to be a credit investor I think it makes more sense to just shoot for a buy-side role the first time around. Good luck!
Thanks a lot for the insight! I would appreciate any advice you have for making the most of analyst years to position oneself for the move to the buy side?
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