“I was meant to buy a new house today. All the financing was in place. Everything was agreed. Then a Russian turned up with a bag of cash and gazumped me. My wife’s not very happy.”
A top-level, London-based US investment banker shows that despite a great 2005 for the industry, there are some things an annual bonus cannot buy
“Private equity has the liquidity, hedge funds have the brains – the only thing us banks have left is credibility...”
A rare example of true honesty from an investment banker, or a too gloomy assessment of the state of the industry?
“The cynical view of mezzanine, of course, is that the amount of mezzanine finance in a deal equals the amount you have overpaid for an asset.”
A private equity investor in central Europe
“They are among the dumber trades I have seen.”
One emerging markets portfolio manager gives his view on the Latin American perpetual bond craze
“I’m talking to you from the gym. I don’t need to stop exercising to talk because I’m a very fit 40-year-old. I’ve resculpted my body.”
Senior capital markets banker in Asia gives an interview from his treadmill.