The marbled foyer of its high-rise headquarters on the corner of Madison Avenue and 53rd Street in New York looks like that of any bulge bracket investment bank. It has the art collection – including an impressive chunk of the Berlin Wall – that now seems to be an obligatory part of a bulge bracket’s corporate personae. But within the offices of Jefferies Investment Bank beats the heart of a different beast.
With its focus on mid-market companies, it does not take a $20bn deal to quicken a Jefferies banker’s pulse; they are just as excited by a $50m initial public offering (IPO) or a $150m high yield offering. The bank eschews bureaucracy and lionises the entrepreneurial.
