Resources to help prepare for Capital Markets group? Forum

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Anonymous User
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Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Resources to help prepare for Capital Markets group?

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Jun 22, 2021 4:17 pm

I'm a junior lateraling firms and switching from a niche corporate field to a general capital markets group. Are there resources that would best help me shorten the learning curve or understand the fundamentals of the practice and concepts? Any good books or online resources? I'm generally weak math-wise and would love to get more comfortable with general capital markets concepts.

Additionally, any good resources for catching up on the SEC laws aspect of things? I never took securities regulation.

Or is it really just a learn on the job kind of thing?

Thanks!

anon because profile could out me.

LittleRedCorvette

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Re: Resources to help prepare for Capital Markets group?

Post by LittleRedCorvette » Tue Jun 22, 2021 4:55 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Jun 22, 2021 4:17 pm
I'm a junior lateraling firms and switching from a niche corporate field to a general capital markets group. Are there resources that would best help me shorten the learning curve or understand the fundamentals of the practice and concepts? Any good books or online resources? I'm generally weak math-wise and would love to get more comfortable with general capital markets concepts.

Additionally, any good resources for catching up on the SEC laws aspect of things? I never took securities regulation.

Or is it really just a learn on the job kind of thing?

Thanks!

anon because profile could out me.
No math required. you should just do a few deals, you will pick it up fast. if you have access now, check out a couple workspaces for HY deals and IPOs, maybe a checklist or two -- it is a straightforward practice (for the most part, obvious exceptions and I'm sure someone will come huffing and puffing in here shortly) and as a junior you'll be told exactly what to do (and unless you are a brainlet, you'll be just fine).

NoLongerALurker

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Re: Resources to help prepare for Capital Markets group?

Post by NoLongerALurker » Tue Jun 22, 2021 5:33 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Jun 22, 2021 4:17 pm
I'm a junior lateraling firms and switching from a niche corporate field to a general capital markets group. Are there resources that would best help me shorten the learning curve or understand the fundamentals of the practice and concepts? Any good books or online resources? I'm generally weak math-wise and would love to get more comfortable with general capital markets concepts.

Additionally, any good resources for catching up on the SEC laws aspect of things? I never took securities regulation.

Or is it really just a learn on the job kind of thing?

Thanks!

anon because profile could out me.
It's 99% jargon and process that you really can only learn on the go. If you want some readable stuff read Matt Levine's daily thing so you can sound smart, but even then you don't really need to. If you pick your fave public company and go to sec.gov and type them in and look for their most recent 10-K, you can get a vibe for how disclosure usually reads/feels (the rules in offering documents are generally based on the same regs/rules as 10-K disclosure).

Seriously, cap markets sucks. If I could give one piece of advice to someone going into it, it would be to enjoy the hell out of the weeks leading up to it by living their life and trying to remain an interesting person. Cynical-ish, but honest. As a junior you'll have a LOT of hand holding for a few months and then have a lot (in my opinion, malpractice-amount) of independence and expectations to just push deals. You're now going to be an overpaid project manager-slash-copy editor who gets barked at by bankers all day, probably. Decently portable though.

Anonymous User
Posts: 428106
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Resources to help prepare for Capital Markets group?

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Jun 26, 2021 11:20 am

NoLongerALurker wrote:
Tue Jun 22, 2021 5:33 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Jun 22, 2021 4:17 pm
I'm a junior lateraling firms and switching from a niche corporate field to a general capital markets group. Are there resources that would best help me shorten the learning curve or understand the fundamentals of the practice and concepts? Any good books or online resources? I'm generally weak math-wise and would love to get more comfortable with general capital markets concepts.

Additionally, any good resources for catching up on the SEC laws aspect of things? I never took securities regulation.

Or is it really just a learn on the job kind of thing?

Thanks!

anon because profile could out me.
It's 99% jargon and process that you really can only learn on the go. If you want some readable stuff read Matt Levine's daily thing so you can sound smart, but even then you don't really need to. If you pick your fave public company and go to sec.gov and type them in and look for their most recent 10-K, you can get a vibe for how disclosure usually reads/feels (the rules in offering documents are generally based on the same regs/rules as 10-K disclosure).

Seriously, cap markets sucks. If I could give one piece of advice to someone going into it, it would be to enjoy the hell out of the weeks leading up to it by living their life and trying to remain an interesting person. Cynical-ish, but honest. As a junior you'll have a LOT of hand holding for a few months and then have a lot (in my opinion, malpractice-amount) of independence and expectations to just push deals. You're now going to be an overpaid project manager-slash-copy editor who gets barked at by bankers all day, probably. Decently portable though.
Having transitioned from niche to cap markets underwriters’ counsel, banks are the worst. They work crazy hours and expect the same from you. The constant fire drills and late nights and early days start to get to you…

nayaab05

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Re: Resources to help prepare for Capital Markets group?

Post by nayaab05 » Mon Jun 28, 2021 6:25 pm

NoLongerALurker wrote:
Tue Jun 22, 2021 5:33 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Jun 22, 2021 4:17 pm
I'm a junior lateraling firms and switching from a niche corporate field to a general capital markets group. Are there resources that would best help me shorten the learning curve or understand the fundamentals of the practice and concepts? Any good books or online resources? I'm generally weak math-wise and would love to get more comfortable with general capital markets concepts.

Additionally, any good resources for catching up on the SEC laws aspect of things? I never took securities regulation.

Or is it really just a learn on the job kind of thing?

Thanks!

anon because profile could out me.
It's 99% jargon and process that you really can only learn on the go. If you want some readable stuff read Matt Levine's daily thing so you can sound smart, but even then you don't really need to. If you pick your fave public company and go to sec.gov and type them in and look for their most recent 10-K, you can get a vibe for how disclosure usually reads/feels (the rules in offering documents are generally based on the same regs/rules as 10-K disclosure).

Seriously, cap markets sucks. If I could give one piece of advice to someone going into it, it would be to enjoy the hell out of the weeks leading up to it by living their life and trying to remain an interesting person. Cynical-ish, but honest. As a junior you'll have a LOT of hand holding for a few months and then have a lot (in my opinion, malpractice-amount) of independence and expectations to just push deals. You're now going to be an overpaid project manager-slash-copy editor who gets barked at by bankers all day, probably. Decently portable though.
Thanks for this! Can you elaborate on what you mean by "decently portable"?

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NoLongerALurker

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Posts: 408
Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2014 2:08 am

Re: Resources to help prepare for Capital Markets group?

Post by NoLongerALurker » Tue Jun 29, 2021 1:08 pm

nayaab05 wrote:
Mon Jun 28, 2021 6:25 pm
NoLongerALurker wrote:
Tue Jun 22, 2021 5:33 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Jun 22, 2021 4:17 pm
I'm a junior lateraling firms and switching from a niche corporate field to a general capital markets group. Are there resources that would best help me shorten the learning curve or understand the fundamentals of the practice and concepts? Any good books or online resources? I'm generally weak math-wise and would love to get more comfortable with general capital markets concepts.

Additionally, any good resources for catching up on the SEC laws aspect of things? I never took securities regulation.

Or is it really just a learn on the job kind of thing?

Thanks!

anon because profile could out me.
It's 99% jargon and process that you really can only learn on the go. If you want some readable stuff read Matt Levine's daily thing so you can sound smart, but even then you don't really need to. If you pick your fave public company and go to sec.gov and type them in and look for their most recent 10-K, you can get a vibe for how disclosure usually reads/feels (the rules in offering documents are generally based on the same regs/rules as 10-K disclosure).

Seriously, cap markets sucks. If I could give one piece of advice to someone going into it, it would be to enjoy the hell out of the weeks leading up to it by living their life and trying to remain an interesting person. Cynical-ish, but honest. As a junior you'll have a LOT of hand holding for a few months and then have a lot (in my opinion, malpractice-amount) of independence and expectations to just push deals. You're now going to be an overpaid project manager-slash-copy editor who gets barked at by bankers all day, probably. Decently portable though.
Thanks for this! Can you elaborate on what you mean by "decently portable"?
I mean in a pinch you can sell the experience / conceive of it as general corporate work. If you're in a firm where their cap markets group also does periodic reporting and SEC compliance (which is fairly common), it also means you have a skillset that every single public company needs in its in-house lawyers. Doing an issuer side IPO is always going to be valuable experience and a gold star on your resume if looking to jump to something else. It's very common for 3-5 years to move into pretty decent in-house gigs ("decent" if you don't mind your entire professional life being SEC disclosure, financing disclosure and related things, of course -- which is sort of narrow, but also is a little less narrow than it sounds at first pass). You'll become well-versed enough in finance to sound competent / find finance meme accounts funny, but you'll never be respected on the finance-side by the bankers involved or anything. I would avoid becoming the specialist-of-a-specialist type (I.e., "I only do HY foreign private issuer bonds", but some groups will sort of force this on you while you're still pretty junior, so would try to push back if possible).

If I could do it all over again, I'd have avoided cap markets. But, having failed to avoid it, I at least see the above as positives.

Anonymous User
Posts: 428106
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Resources to help prepare for Capital Markets group?

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Jun 29, 2021 2:44 pm

NoLongerALurker wrote:
Tue Jun 29, 2021 1:08 pm
nayaab05 wrote:
Mon Jun 28, 2021 6:25 pm
NoLongerALurker wrote:
Tue Jun 22, 2021 5:33 pm
Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Jun 22, 2021 4:17 pm
I'm a junior lateraling firms and switching from a niche corporate field to a general capital markets group. Are there resources that would best help me shorten the learning curve or understand the fundamentals of the practice and concepts? Any good books or online resources? I'm generally weak math-wise and would love to get more comfortable with general capital markets concepts.

Additionally, any good resources for catching up on the SEC laws aspect of things? I never took securities regulation.

Or is it really just a learn on the job kind of thing?

Thanks!

anon because profile could out me.
It's 99% jargon and process that you really can only learn on the go. If you want some readable stuff read Matt Levine's daily thing so you can sound smart, but even then you don't really need to. If you pick your fave public company and go to sec.gov and type them in and look for their most recent 10-K, you can get a vibe for how disclosure usually reads/feels (the rules in offering documents are generally based on the same regs/rules as 10-K disclosure).

Seriously, cap markets sucks. If I could give one piece of advice to someone going into it, it would be to enjoy the hell out of the weeks leading up to it by living their life and trying to remain an interesting person. Cynical-ish, but honest. As a junior you'll have a LOT of hand holding for a few months and then have a lot (in my opinion, malpractice-amount) of independence and expectations to just push deals. You're now going to be an overpaid project manager-slash-copy editor who gets barked at by bankers all day, probably. Decently portable though.
Thanks for this! Can you elaborate on what you mean by "decently portable"?
I mean in a pinch you can sell the experience / conceive of it as general corporate work. If you're in a firm where their cap markets group also does periodic reporting and SEC compliance (which is fairly common), it also means you have a skillset that every single public company needs in its in-house lawyers. Doing an issuer side IPO is always going to be valuable experience and a gold star on your resume if looking to jump to something else. It's very common for 3-5 years to move into pretty decent in-house gigs ("decent" if you don't mind your entire professional life being SEC disclosure, financing disclosure and related things, of course -- which is sort of narrow, but also is a little less narrow than it sounds at first pass). You'll become well-versed enough in finance to sound competent / find finance meme accounts funny, but you'll never be respected on the finance-side by the bankers involved or anything. I would avoid becoming the specialist-of-a-specialist type (I.e., "I only do HY foreign private issuer bonds", but some groups will sort of force this on you while you're still pretty junior, so would try to push back if possible).

If I could do it all over again, I'd have avoided cap markets. But, having failed to avoid it, I at least see the above as positives.
Thanks for answering! What would you have done instead?

Anonymous User
Posts: 428106
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Resources to help prepare for Capital Markets group?

Post by Anonymous User » Tue Jun 29, 2021 9:01 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Tue Jun 29, 2021 2:44 pm

Thanks for answering! What would you have done instead?
Also curious about what current cap. markets associates would rather being doing.

Anonymous User
Posts: 428106
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Resources to help prepare for Capital Markets group?

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Jun 30, 2021 2:01 am

Im in tech m&a mainly but got asked to help out on an IPO recently and I hate everything about it. Im dying to go back to m&a. Cap markets feels like the worst part of m&a (sell side information statement) but having that be your whole practice.

Anonymous User
Posts: 428106
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:32 am

Re: Resources to help prepare for Capital Markets group?

Post by Anonymous User » Wed Jun 30, 2021 8:16 am

I think M&A dd is more grueling but M&A is also more interesting than capital markets in basically every respect unless someone likes learning the arcane intricacies of securities law and doing form checks

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