Credit Suisse bankers have Apollo contracts, and queries
If you're a member of Credit Suisse's securitized product group (SPG), it may be Christmas, but it's also a stressful time. The SPG is being sold to Apollo Global Management and we understand that its most desirable members are already receiving offers to join the new Apollo venture, which will seemingly be called Atlas. Those who don't get the Apollo offers may be shuffled into Mizuho (which is also understood to have offers out). And those who don't go to Apollo or Mizuho could find themselves somewhere else, yet tbd.
Apollo is the big dog in the room: everyone in the SPG wants to work for Apollo due to its combination of high prestige and high pay, but there are suggestions that it's striking a hardish bargain.
We haven't seen the actual Apollo contracts, which reportedly run to many tens of pages, but Credit Suisse insiders say they're not as immediately generous as hoped. Members of the SPG group who move to Apollo will seemingly forego their Credit Suisse bonuses for 2022 and instead receive signing bonuses from Apollo early next year. However, most of the language concerning performance related bonuses at Apollo is said to pertain to payments for 2023 that will be received in 2024 and beyond. Fortunate SPG group members who move to Apollo will therefore need to wait over a year before accessing the full bounty of their new employer. During this time, there are fears that some may be let go; if they are, they won't get paid any bonus for 2023 - as is usually the case in finance, bonuses are only paid if individuals are in employment on the date of payment.
Credit Suisse SPG employees who receive this offer don't have long to make up their minds. The deadline for signing the Apollo contracts is understood to be Thursday, December 29th.
Credit Suisse and Apollo declined to comment
It's not clear exactly who has received the Apollo offers so far. There are unconfirmed suggestions that some people in SPG sales have been offered partnership positions in the new entity, which seems unusual - unless Apollo needs people to sell-on the tranches it doesn't want. The expectation is that Credit Suisse's SPG originators will be most likely to receive Apollo offers and that salespeople and traders will go to Mizuho.
SPG staff who join Apollo may find it hard to move on again. It's understood that the new contracts impose three-month notice periods on MDs and directors, plus non-compete periods of six and three months respectively. Individuals who choose not to join Apollo could always go to Jefferies, which is understood to be sniffing around as it builds out its own securitized products business under Mark Collier, who joined from Citi in June.
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