UK
After a tough year for infrastructure investment, there are signs that things are looking up for the sector and many firms are again open to recruitment. However, there are fears that a potential cut in government spending could hamper this growth.
A new survey by data provider Preqin provides an illustration of the sector’s woes this year. It suggests that just 19% of top institutional investors have committed money to new infrastructure funds in 2009.
It does, however, look like picking up: “Our survey would suggest that investors will start to return to the market over the course of the next year,” says Tim Friedman of Preqin.
But, with the Conservative Party increasingly looking like a shoo-in at the next general election, a combination of their expected cuts in government spending and uncertainty over new planning rules could provide a stumbling block to recovery in infrastructure investment.
However, one recent reason for optimism is the potential purchase of Gatwick Airport by Global Infrastructure Partners, which has allowed the likes of Credit Suisse, HSBC, RBS and JPMorgan among others to provide the 1.1bn loan.
Nonetheless, the rarity of such deals this year means that most banks have been reluctant to bolster their lending teams, and much of the hiring activity has been on the advisory side, say headhunters.
“A lack of lending activity has led to an increased focus on the advisory side of the business,” says Julian Davey, director of infrastructure headhunters J.D. Search and Selection. “But a lot of this is coming from Big Four accountancy firms, who are keen to tap private sector expertise acquired at investment banks and apply this to public and private sector projects, with the aim of streamlining the infrastructure investment process.”
One recent example of this Daryl Murphy, who moved from head of infrastructure at HSBC in London to associate partner, corporate finance at KPMG. Brookfield Financial has also just kick-started a UK advisory business, and recruiters tell us that Barclays Capital, HSBC and RBS have been hiring in this area.
“For much of this year, banks have tended to shift people internally to fill infrastructure roles,” adds James Wakefield, an infrastructure specialist at Cobalt Recruitment. “But over the last eight weeks we’ve seen an increase in mandates. Investment banks are thinking about recruitment plans for next year, rather than simply containing costs as has been the case in 2009.”
Sarah,
good article. Can I ask you to please ask the headhunters to provide salary?
Analyst 1,2,3
Associate 1,2,3
VP 1,2,3
MD
Senior MD
Split by bank and by advisory M&A or infrastructure finance please