A Romanian engaged in Wall Street’s investment banking despite financial crisis

After nine years settled in United States, the Romanian is investment banker at Freeman & Co and he did not let the fear overtake him. “It is an all-time opportunity if you have the chance to be in the middle of events that change the world we live in and this period will have a major impact over the entire world. It is fascinating to be in the middle of events, if you have a healthy heart”, said the banker in an interview for Wall-Street.ro.

For almost one year, Tony Romani has been working for Freeman & Co., LLC, a company in US investment banking industry.

“Investment banking is a broad field, but not very complicated. It relies on comprehending the role of financial capital in every company and implementing appropriate solutions for each client. The relations established in time, have a core role in investment banking. The group I work in is in charge with Mergers and Acquisitions,” Toni A. Romani explained.

It is well known that investment bankers play a vital role on Wall Street, although in the pas few years, the private equity firms and hedge funds have gained ground, but they are clie4nts of the bankers rather than their partners.

“The institution I work for is exclusively involved in mergers and acquisitions between financial institutions. In the light of recent events in the financial markets, this means we are directly impacted, both positive and negative at the same time. Some of our clients abandoned the transactions planned for the coming period and other just don’t exist anymore,” the banker added.

However, given the fact that the company is not listed at the stock exchange and provides only advisory services, the company is not dependent upon the value of its shares, loan markets or losses geared by real estate sector.

“Furthermore, since we are very specialized and prolific in the segments in which we are actively involved, and since we are a small company by comparison, we have a costs structure that allows us to move faster than many of our biggest competitors”, Romani stated.

Although the minimum price that Freeman&Co charges for a closed deal has been recently raised to 1 million US dollars, Romani recognizes he is rarely involved in large transactions. “In other words, we are under radar, and we practically serve the middle-segment clients, both internally – in United States, and cross-border deals generated by our office based in London”, Toni A. Romani added.

The US investment banking industry is very broad – approximately 7,000 hedge funds, nearly 2,000 private equity funds, 3,000 mutual funds managers, 500 insurance companies and few thousand brokerage firms. “We have not added here the 6,000 commercial banks in United States, as we don’t serve that segment,” he said.