China Investment Corp. Wants You
Job-seeking Wall Street types don't have a lot of options. Cutbacks have eliminated tens of thousands of jobs. The number of investment banks narrows seemingly by the day.
How about going to work for China?
China Investment Corp., Beijing's $200 billion sovereign wealth fund, is launching a new round of recruiting, aiming to fill more than 30 spots from macroeconomic research to stock picking. With Wall Street firms slashing payrolls globally, Chinese working for global investment banks may be tempted to take up public service and help the motherland invest its cash stockpiles. Hey, at least they've got a nice, fat balance sheet.
CIC needs all the help it can get. Set up a year ago, it started with some staff borrowed from a government agency - Central Huijin Investment Ltd. - created to bail out and hold shares in Chinese banks. CIC launched a recruiting drive in November last year, but senior managers have had trouble attracting talent and have instead turned to global investment banks and law firms to second some of their junior staff. Many firms have seconded workers to CIC in an effort to win favor with Chinese officials. One banker recently described a pitch meeting with CIC in which a seconded colleague sat on the other side of the negotiating table.
The young sovereign wealth fund hasn't netted great returns so far, yielding more criticism at home than praise. CIC parked $3 billion in Blackstone Group (BX) at the peak of private equity euphoria in May 2007. It also paid $5.6 billion for a stake in Morgan Stanley (MS) in December, just as subprime-loaded balance sheets went from sour to toxic. Some of those investing mistakes can be attributed to inexperience, but more experienced sovereign investors such as Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd. have also taken a beating on Wall Street deals.
So why hasn't CIC been poaching? Much of the problem lies in compensation. CIC remains a state-owned company, and that puts restraints on the salaries it can pay its employees. Culture also plays a role. Few investment bankers, even Chinese in Hong Kong working for global banks, find it easy to shift from a global company where winning big returns for your firm can net big returns for yourself to a more bureaucratic job where hierarchy and procedure get more emphasis.
If you can shift your mindset, send in your resumes. China is waiting.
Rick Carew |
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