PJT Partners

Two parts, and both need to be specific. PJT: independent, spun out of Blackstone, and home to the leading restructuring practice. Restructuring: you want the analytical complexity of capital structures and the fact the work is counter cyclical. A generic advisory answer will not survive here.

Keep it crisp. PJT allocates roughly one interview to behavioural and personality fit, so give a tight narrative and a clean STAR example, then be ready for the technical rounds that carry the weight.

Have a live distressed situation ready: who is involved, why the capital structure stopped working, which creditors matter and what the likely outcome is. Interviewing exclusively with restructuring bankers means a generic M&A deal will not land.

The most frequently reported PJT RSSG topic. Chapter 11 is reorganisation: the company keeps operating as a debtor in possession, negotiates with creditors and emerges with a restructured balance sheet. Chapter 7 is liquidation: operations stop, a trustee sells the assets and distributes proceeds by priority. You file 11 when the business is worth more alive than dead, and 7 when it is not.

A distinctly PJT style question, precise and academic. A cram down is when the court confirms a plan of reorganisation over the objection of a dissenting class, provided the plan is fair and equitable and does not unfairly discriminate, and at least one impaired class has accepted it. The absolute priority rule must be respected, so a junior class cannot recover unless the senior class is paid in full.

Another PJT specific one. The plan sets out how each class of claims and interests is treated: the classification of claims, which classes are impaired, what each recovers (cash, new debt, or equity in the reorganised company), the new capital structure and governance, and any exit financing. It goes to a creditor vote and then to the court for confirmation.

Work down the waterfall: super priority and DIP financing, then secured claims to the extent of their collateral, administrative and priority claims, unsecured creditors, then equity last. Recoveries depend on where the enterprise value runs out, which is what identifies the fulcrum security.

Reported directly at PJT. With a $10 increase and a 25% tax rate: pre tax income falls $10, net income falls $7.5. On the cash flow statement start at minus $7.5 and add back the $10 non cash charge, so cash rises $2.5, the tax shield. On the balance sheet cash is up $2.5, PP&E down $10, retained earnings down $7.5, and it balances. Be exact, they will check the arithmetic.

Structure it: operational fixes first, then liability management out of court (amend and extend, exchange offers, debt buybacks, new money), then an out of court restructuring, then a prepackaged or pre negotiated Chapter 11, then a full Chapter 11. Out of court is faster and cheaper but needs near unanimous consent, while a filing binds holdouts through the court.