Banks tap oil and gas M&A juniors

Banks have filled some of their vacancies, but recruiters say they will still bend over to employ junior M&A staff with an oil and gas sector specialism and pay them more for the privilege.

"There's still demand for oil and gas people, both in M&A and in DCM," says Jim Nairn, a consultant at recruiter the Cornell Partnership. "Most of the major banks are hiring, and those that aren't either hired yesterday or are thinking of hiring oil and gas specialists tomorrow."

Emma Halls, a manager at recruitment firm Finance Professionals, says some of the jobs in the sector have now been filled but that banks will universally open their doors to oil and gas specialists with hot languages, such as Russian.

Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein has been scouting for M&A oil and gas talent, ABN are said to be looking for associates, and Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are interested in receiving CVs.

Hiring activity coincides with a rush of consolidation in the oil and gas industry. A recently published study by UK corporate advisors Harrison Lovegrove and US research firm John S Herold found oil and gas M&A tripled in value to $160bn last year.

As a result, Halls says oil and gas M&A staff can command more money than their counterparts in less sizzling sectors. She says a first year associate working on oil and gas M&A deals in a top-tier bank should expect a salary of 50,000 - 55,000, and that a bonus of anything less than 125% of this would be 'disappointing.' By comparison, she says a retail-focused associate can apparently expect a similar salary and a 50% bonus 'if they're lucky.'

Nairn says a lack of junior M&A talent with an oil and gas focus is encouraging banks to lower their recruitment criteria. "Banks are lot more prepared than they were in the past to look at people with oil and gas knowledge from other areas," he says. Equity researchers and debt originators are apparently popular.