Clean energy fuels jobs
Do you want to work in finance while helping to improve the environment? One search firm tells us investment banks offer an increasing number of opportunities to work with clean energy products.
'There are a large number of carbon-reduction projects being based in China and other Asian countries, and many banks feel that they need a presence in Asia to capture these opportunities," says Guy Roberts, Hong Kong based group managing director at executive search firm Pelham Pacific.
Over the past two years in Asia, banks have been building clean energy divisions within M & A, Project Finance and Structured Finance - Infrastructure.
"They are looking to hire executives who can do transactions ranging from restructurings, refinancing, and mezzanine debt as well as equity opportunities acting as an advisor or arranger. Analysts are being sought to provide research support to these transactions," says Roberts.
Analysts come from either an equity research background or from an energy team (power or gas predominately) working for a private equity house or an energy trading firm.
Salaries vary but a good guide is upwards of 90,000 base with 50-100% bonus for an analyst with five years' experience, says Roberts.
Asian fund managers are also increasingly active in the clean energy market. Last month, CLSA Capital Partners in Hong Kong launched a Clean Resources Asia fund. Meanwhile, a Sydney based fund Attunga Capital is launching an environmental fund, and Macquarie Bank's Clean Technology Fund, a fund of fund, will allocate 25% of its capital to European and Asian clean energy managers.
