Restructuring Banker Tasks

What tasks do restructuring bankers spend most of their time doing at the Analyst/Associate level?

I'm interested in lateral opportunities and want to see what I am getting myself into...

Comments (12)

最有帮助的
  • Analyst 2inIB - Restr
2y

In my experience,RXdeals are more variable than vanilla M&A processes, so workstreams will vary depending on the situation and whether you're working on debtor (more process-heavy) or creditor (more diligence-heavy) side. It's not uncommon for restructurings to contain M&A and capital raise components as well.

But to give you an idea, take standard M&A responsibilities like diligence, operating model creation, valuation,comps, trackers, presentations, etc. and then add in incrementalfocus on capital structure-- both within the context of a formal restructuring (e.g. recovery waterfalls, debt capacity analyses) and outside / more on the liability management side (e.g. liquidity analyses with various recapitalization options). You'll see a lot of different financial instruments used in the context of recapitalizations (multiple tranches ofconvertible prefs, rights offerings, warrants, etc.) and will be expected to model the returns / recovery implications for each. For Ch. 11 processes, you may be expected to pull DIP / Rights Offeringcomps(although most banks have repositories, so it's not terrible). Expectations tend to differ between firms on whether the analysts get involved in doc spreading / interpreting the credit agreements.

Personally, I've gotten exposure to both M&A and restructuring and really enjoy the variability and game theory involved on theRXside.

  • Analyst 1inIB - Gen
2y

Additionally, you garner more respect because of the complexities of restructuring. Companies that have to restructure only go to the traditional players because of the reputation and connections while the same can not be said for M&A.

2y
SunTzu, what's your opinion? Comment below:

Spent 3 years at Houlihan doingRXwork on debtor and creditor. As someone said above, the creditor side work can vary greatly depending on where the fulcrum security is and how level of demand from client(s). The most I ever worked in my life was for a silly amendment for an unsecured creditor committee. Work on the debtor side is a little more hands-on. Overall, the hours are much more variable and intense inRX因为你正在处理一个南加州爱迪生公司冰块融化nario and things often have to happen fast. Also, know that the lawyers drive a lot of the process inRXbanking (much more so than in an M&A deal).

A silver lining ofRXis that you can pivot well to private equity or private credit. You learn a ton up and down thebalance sheetand how those constituents think. A downside is that the discussions are often do or die inRXand everyone is pissed off all the time.

Life is more than dollars
  • 4
  • Analyst 1inIB - Gen
2y

From a junior's perspective, where do the hours come in? I assume that you are building alternative models and plans (on the creditor side) that are directionally-led by senior bankers on the deal?

2y
SunTzu, what's your opinion? Comment below:

Not a sexy answer, but at the junior level, I spent a lot of my time doing data clean up/ consolidation, making PPT decks, and making ad hoc models for various scenarios (all from scratch). Given thatRXscenarios are much more time sensitive, we would send clients update decks constantly. Like mostIBgigs, your experience depends on what kind of deals you are staffed on and the bankers immediately senior to you. You will learn a ton in a chapter 11 deal, but I often felt very distanced from the actual deal because I had a fucking crazy ex-marine associate that would have us working 80-100 hour weeks when 70 would have been sufficient. Therefore I was often so jammed in the weeds and hating life that I didn't learn near as much as I could have while working under a normal person.

Life is more than dollars
  • 3
2y
10x Leveraged, what's your opinion? Comment below:

All good points above, but do want to add that not allRXdeals are super complex / intellectually stimulating

At a high level, depends on the following:

  • Advising Debtor or Creditor? (Debtor is typically a lot more hands on as you take the lead in forumlating the RSA / Plan of reorganization)
    • If Creditor, are you advising the ABL vs. 1L lenders vs. Unsecured noteholders? Much more interesting when advising unsecured noteholders who are the fulcrum, vs. ABL lenders who are majority just banks and only care about maximizing recovery
  • Type of deal - is it a complex prepack /freefall Chapter 11or is it an exchange offer or is it just an amendment? Won't bore you with details but an amendment is still considered an "out-of-court restructuring" and can be some of the most painful & boring exercises, with banks screaming & nagging for petty provisions like anti-cash hoarding limits, cash dominion, worrying about collateral reduction when they're still covered 1.5x+ and stuff like that. Also gets painful when Company needs a maturity extension (which requires 100% lender consent) but one bank just refuses to do so because they just want out, regardless of whether the amendment is beneficial for them or not..
  • Also depends on confrontation levels between stakeholders. Is the Company / creditors generally aligned and open to compromise? Or are is there one large lender trying to secretly gather a small group of lenders and prime (aka. screw over) the rest of the lender group? (btw this "lenders screwing each other" dynamic has been a big theme of 2020RXdeals). The more confrontation there is, the more complex (and exciting?) theRXdeals are. On the contrary, a nice amicable pre-pack will be quite smooth and not as complicated (relatively speaking that is, still way more complicated than avanilla sell sideM&A deal)

基本上只是想说,就像在并购, there are very complex / exciting deals (prepacks / Ch 11 with a lot of confrontation), and there are also really boring deals (amendments, basically advising ABL / regular bank lenders in general). It's just that the complex deals inRXtend to get REALLY complex - much more so relative to a similar "complex" M&A deal

Hope this helps

Array

  • 8
  • Analyst 1inIB - Gen
2y

How would lenders be able to screw over each other when they are in the same class? Would love some color on this...thanks.

  • InterninIB - Gen
2y

I will try to explain quickly, it took me a while to understand.

Serta case: creditors who had 50%+1 were able to create a super priority debt above the 1 and 2 term loans, the minority creditors sued but lost because creating super-priority debt did not require 100% of creditors according to credit docs (it is not that simple but judge allowed this transaction). After creating the super-priority debt, the creditors that did the deal with the company did 2 things: gave cash for the next debt in the first out super-priority and exchanged old term loans 1 and 2 at a discount (around 70 and 40c) for the second out super-priority debt. As 10x Leveraged was explaining, this is screwing the minority creditors that did not participate (inthis case ApolloandAngelo Gordon) since they used to be first and second in line and now they are third and fourth. Note: they could become fourth and fifth because super-priority has a third tranche that is empty at the moment.

  • 3
2y
[email protected], what's your opinion? Comment below:

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