Although Cesar Magnaye has an impressive range of professional experience in banking, he didn't find his niche until he came upon a position as the vice president of the investment banking group at a commercial bank. During his many years in this position, he was responsible for developing project finance deals, recruiting investors and lenders, and coordinating syndicated funds from project sponsors. Since taking an early retirement from investment banking in 2002, Magnaye has kept himself busy as an independent banking consultant working on due diligence and business valuation for mergers and acquisitions projects. In April 2007, he began chronicling the journey that led him to investment banking on his blog, An Investment Banker's Take on Life, where he shares his opinions on a variety of financial topics.

Why did you decide to pursue this career field?
Actually, I'm an accidental investment banker. Serendipity took my hands and led me to the exciting field of investment banking. Although I never dreamed of becoming an investment banker, let me tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed my journey into this career field. I wouldn't trade this experience for anything else I've done during my entire working years.

What type of preparation did you do to get into this field?
My undergraduate degree in business economics and graduate studies in business administration were my tickets to a succession of jobs that eventually landed me in investment banking.

What types of classes and projects did you have to do?
My university's academic curriculum for a B.S. in business economics (BSBE) was pretty cut and dry, with a couple of elective subjects and a "baby" thesis during the senior year, as requirement for graduation. Inasmuch as my chosen degree course was a hybrid between A.B. in economics and B.S. in business administration, half of my classes in BSBE consisted of major economics subjects (e.g., introductory economics, macroeconomics, microeconomics, international economics, public money and banking, statistics, econometrics, economic history) and the other half, major business administration subjects (e.g., basic accounting, cost accounting, financial management, marketing management, production management, business policy).

For my electives I chose a higher course in marketing and anthropology, while my baby thesis was about the capital and money markets. Lest I forget to mention, the first two years in BSBE consisted of what one would label as "general education" subjects–English grammar, literature, art and humanities, history, math, physics— but which I found very useful nonetheless in my career. As for my graduate studies in business administration, our curriculum was a virtual copy of MBA courses offered in American universities, with heavy emphasis on the Harvard case method.

How did your education help you in your career?
I'm thankful that my economics education adequately prepared me for the type of work that I had to do in my early career. Since I routinely did a lot of analysis and report writing in my economics undergrad, the research and writing skills that I developed there smoothed my learning curve in my early jobs as an economic researcher and industry analyst. My business education, on the other hand, served me well in my later incarnation as a banker.

What was your career path like in this field?
I was working in a commercial bank with a "universal banking" license (i.e., allowed to undertake investment banking activities) when I changed careers. I was vice president for corporate planning (of the commercial bank) when they moved me laterally to the investment banking group as a vice president charged with handling project finance deals. It took me more than a decade to move up the ranks–from a junior officer in the economics and research department, to senior manager in the branches department, to assistant vice president in the corporate planning department, then eventually as its vice president–before I happily stumbled into investment banking. By normal standards, you could say I started quite late in investment banking but then that's how fate sometimes plays its tricks on us.

What types of skills is someone required to have to work in your position?
I don't think there's a set magic formula for performing effectively in the position I was thrust into. Over time, however, I found that I had to employ various mixes of leadership, communication, negotiation and technical skills (in that descending order) in order to perform effectively under varying situations as head of a project finance deal team.

What do you do on a typical workday?
A typical workday varies with the nature of my workload and the stage a project is currently in. During the early business development phase of a project finance deal, I work to secure the mandate for raising the funds needed by a project, which involves initial and follow-up meetings with prospective clients or project sponsors. During these meetings, I make presentations introducing my bank and how we could help them in their future plans. After each meeting, I submit "Call Reports" to inform my boss and other key officers of the bank on the status of the projects.

Once the mandate is given by the client, I engage the services of other advisers who will assist with aspects of the fundraising transaction. I then schedule, in consultation with the client, a presentation of the proposed project to generate interest from prospective investors/lenders. The documentation phase begins after investors/lenders have committed to the project. During this time, I may attend meetings to ensure the interests of both my client and the syndicate members are reflected in the documents being crafted by the legal advisers. To cap this project finance transaction, I usually schedule a high-profile formal signing ceremony where the client's CEO and the CEOs of the institutions forming the syndicate have a photo opportunity (for media release). Only after I have succeeded in coordinating the actual drawdown of the syndicated funds by the client/project sponsor, do I start looking for another deal and the whole process begins again.

Do you plan to advance to another position within your career field?
Although I took early retirement from investment banking in 2002, I continued to be active as a solo banking consultant thereafter. In particular, most of my consultancy engagements have been M&A-related projects involving due diligence and business valuation work. In other words, notwithstanding the variety of experience which I have had since I started working in 1974, my most marketable skill, in effect, turned out to be that which I learned in investment banking.

What type of person do you think is best suited for a job in your field?
To effectively handle a deal team in project finance, I think we need a well-rounded, mature person who is comfortable dealing with persons in authority, can display grace under pressure, and lead a group with diverse characters and interests. At the same time, that person should also have a solid finance background and a good working knowledge of how the economy works in a globalized environment.

Do you have any advice for those who are looking to launch a career in your field?
The set of skills I previously mentioned are what I found useful in my career, so if you plan to stay long in investment banking (i.e., beyond bagging the analyst or associate position), try to check yourself against that short list and see what you already have and what you still need to develop, then work on your deficiencies accordingly. Good luck!