The 20 most desirable people inside Credit Suisse
Who are the most desirable people inside Credit Suisse? Is it the M&A bankers who are joining Michael Klein at CS First Boston? Is it the leveraged finance bankers who are also joining Klein? Is it the securitized products group that's going to Apollo? Or is it a set of people who are entirely different?
Some CS insiders say it's the latter. It's the special situations group.
While the securitized products group (SPG) is the jewel in Credit Suisse's current crown and generates around $1.4bn in revenues annually, it's understood to employ around 250 people and is comparatively mature. By comparison, the much smaller special situations group generates over $100m in revenues with fewer than 20 people and is understood to be growing at a rate of around 7% a year.
Credit Suisse declined to comment for this article. The special situations group was founded in 2019 under Thomas Mathieson who was hired from NatWest. Special situations investors typically invest in assets that are distressed or stressed. Mathieson is understood to have built a strong private investment pipeline with colleagues like Yacine Bourezak, a former Goldman Sachs analyst, who joined in August 2021.
The special situations team is moving to Apollo too. However, sources at Credit Suisse say no one in the team has received a retention bonus. Their move is anomalous to the extent that Apollo is buying securitized products and special sits isn't part of that business. "Securitized products is the cash cow and special sits is the growth story," says one insider. "Credit Suisse is just selling whatever it can to raise money."
Although the securitized products group moving, Apollo doesn't need everyone in it. Salespeople in the team have been losing their jobs this week. No one, however, has lost their job in special sits. At least, not yet.
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