I joined Macquarie’s Graduate Program after completing a Bachelor of Commerce (Co-op) majoring in Accounting and Finance. I’m a Business Analyst in the Principal Finance team, which is part of Macquarie’s Corporate and Asset Finance Group. Macquarie's Principal Finance team provides flexible primary financing solutions and engages in secondary market investing, across the capital structure.
Day-to-day I am responsible for assessing potential debt and equity investment opportunities for Macquarie. These opportunities range from pure operating businesses to real-estate investments. A key part of my role is building analysis from the ground up and conducting research into a wide variety of industries to understand how businesses create value and the key risks they face in today’s market. This work can involve building financial models, analysing market trends, and working alongside the management teams who run these businesses.
As transactions near completion, I’ve been responsible for preparing commercial contracts and helping develop business strategies and 100-day plans. I’ve also been involved in negotiations with counterparties – which is always an interesting experience. These have all been fantastic learning opportunities, far exceeding the levels of exposure I expected as a graduate.
Principal Finance analysts are ‘sector agnostic’, meaning that we work across all sectors, from consumer retail to renewable energy to real-estate. I’ve been privileged to work across a plethora of sectors, and investigate opportunities internationally and across the capital structure from senior debt to pure equity, and everything in between. The small team structure means I receive constant on-the-job training and mentoring, which has been tremendously beneficial to my personal development.
I have been actively involved in the Graduate Development Program, where I’ve enjoyed engaging with my peers across different teams that I wouldn’t typically interact with during the normal course of business. I’ve also had the opportunity to meet many of my counterparts from the London, Singapore and North American offices.
As part of the Principal Finance team, I get to be part of equity investments. They’re intense and exhilarating experiences and are always exceptionally rewarding.
The work I’ve done with the Graduate Program has been exciting to say the least, but the pinnacle of my first year with Macquarie has been spending an extended period living and working in New York, which has culminated in my permanent transfer to New York in January 2019. I gained invaluable experience working on transactions and formed bonds with colleagues from around the world. I’ve always wanted to work in New York, so I feel extremely fortunate to have been able to realise my dream so early on in my career.