New York, NY – Despite signs that some sell-side firms have started hiring in recent months, it is clear that most Wall Street firms remain cautious due to weakness in cash equities and fixed-income and the prospects of tighter rules in derivatives and proprietary trading. Consequently, most firms remain wary of quickly staffing up. This business environment is music to the ears of Accordian Partners, a relatively new firm that focuses on deploying experienced investment bank and private equity professionals on temporary assignments for investment banks, private equity firms, hedge funds and corporate M&A departments.
Accordian Partners was founded almost twelve months ago by former Wall Street professionals, Nick Leopard, Andrew Blechman, and Matthew Phillips. The firm extends the BPO model of enabling investment banks and buy-side investors to outsource much of their junior analytical work to low-cost centers like India or China. The big difference is that Accordian Partners provides clients with access to experienced sell-side and buy-side analysts who can work on sophisticated projects on a temporary basis from the same time zone.
The team at Accordian can provide clients with a variety of analytical services, including:
- Financial statement modeling
- LBO, DCF, NAV modeling and interpretation
- M&A ,ECM, DCM transaction support
- Market overviews, portfolio company updates
- Credit analysis
- Industry-specific expertise for special opportunities
- Distressed asset valuation
- Thematic sector research
- Proactive acquisition identification
- Bottoms-up earnings forecasts
By offering experienced, high quality staff, and flexible commercial terms, Accordian Partners has been able to quickly expanded to more than 20 employees, with plans to grow to more than 100 professionals in two years.
While we don’t know the specifics of what Accordian Partners charges for their work, we think the business model of contracting sophisticated analytical work on a project by project basis makes considerable business sense – particularly given the cost conscious nature of many businesses in today’s strained market environment. We also suspect that the severe layoffs that have taken place in the past few years has provided Accordian with a large pool of potential staff who might be interested in a different type of work environment than a traditional full-time position with an investment bank or private equity fund.