What is a syndicate?

Syndicators usually sit on the trading floor, but don’t trade securities or sell them to clients. The syndicate provide a basic role in placing stock or bond offerings with buy siders and aim to find the right offering price that satisfies both the company, the salespeople, the investors and the corporate finance bankers working the deal.

In any public offering, syndicate gets involved once the first prospectus is sent out to potential investors. At this point syndicate associates begin to contact other investment banks interested in being underwriters in the deal.

Investors who agree to put up money for the IPO participate in what is called the syndicate. In the prospectus each participant is allocated a number of shares.

If I work in syndicating what will I be doing?

You will spend most of your time on the phone and meeting with people working on the prospectus. You will also spend time pricing the IPO by supply and demand. Syndicate professionals:

• Make sure their banks are included in the underwriting of deals
• Put together the underwriting group in deals the investment bank is managing
• Allocate stock to the various buy-side firms indicating an interest in the deal
• Determine the final offering price of various offerings
• Sorting out people who are likely to invest and those who are likely to pull out
• Distinguish investors who are looking for a quick profit and will sell the stock immediately after inflation from the longer term investors
• Keeping the company in touch with pricing

How do I get a graduate scheme / internship / entry level job or career in Sydicating?

Obtaining a graduate scheme, internship or entry level role in syndicating can be very challenging and competitive – though very achievable by getting your application, CV, interview and general approach right. You can guarantee that ninety percent of applicants for syndicating roles will not know how to apply, so getting your application in the top ten percent makes things a lot more achievable.

Approaching the company in the right way will make all the difference. Combining the right approach with a strong interview (and in some cases assessment centre) writ a strong focused tailored CV will go a long way. Make sure you have gone through the free videos on this sight by entering your name and email address in the top right of this screen underneath the video. Once you have filled this in you will have instant access to everything you need to secure your career in syndicating.

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