Rothschild = Goldman Sachs of Europe

I would like to hear opinions on Rothschild in London/Europe. I heard in America they are not that good, but they are top notch in the City. From what I heard from bankers in the City, they are the most prestigious place (one of), and are basically Goldman of Europe. They rank no.1 in multiple EU countries, e.g. France. They are no.1 for a number of M&A deals in Europe and no. for their Equity Advisory in the world. Also heard about great PE placement - linkedin search will confirm.

Heard stories about the company's butlers and saw the ridiculously expensive paintings in their offices. They are also considered the 'poshest' name in the City.

What are your thoughts on Rothschild?

 
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I can confirm that Rothschild and Lazard are the major players in Paris. They have the most deals. I know that in Paris Rothshild is divided into 3 main IB advisory teams: - GFA (global financial advisory) is for large caps - A very strong midcap team - A new and small real estate focused team.

They also have a merchant banking/PE growing activity (5 arrows capital and other funds).

French President Emmanuel Macron used to be an MD at Rothschild for a bit less than 2 years, he advised major deal and made close do 2mm euros. And yes he made it straight to MD without any previous IB experience lol.

 

I was deciding between Rothschild and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, spoke with a few City bankers who advised taking Rothschild. The way they are structured in London is:

M&A - #1 Europe Debt and Restructuring - ??? (less known) Equity Advisory - #1 worldwide

 
ZlatanSPV:
I can confirm that Rothschild and Lazard are the major players in Paris. They have the most deals. I know that in Paris Rothshild is divided into 3 main IB advisory teams: - GFA (global financial advisory) is for large caps - A very strong midcap team - A new and small real estate focused team.

They also have a merchant banking/PE growing activity (5 arrows capital and other funds).

French President Emmanuel Macron used to be an MD at Rothschild for a bit less than 2 years, he advised major deal and made close do 2mm euros. And yes he made it straight to MD without any previous IB experience lol.

Yes, their analysts place at mega funds and best PE shops.

 
Controversial
howard.fraser:
I also heard of great reputation in Europe. Heard of people choosing them over Goldman in London. The thing about the company's butlers is true, google it.

In Europe: Rothschild = Goldman > JPM, MS, Lazard > other BB

 

They are definitely the most prestigious bank in Europe, the company owns crazy shit through their subsidiaries. They are weaker in the US but expanding rapidly.

 
C-K.K.:
Very reputable and strong deal flow. Their offices a great as well. In my opinion the best view. But isn't GS still quite a bit better. Just from looking at PE teams there are a lot more GS/MS/JPM and at times more LAZ people at the megafunds. Given the enormous headcount, the comparison seems fair. Fundamentally, RS is a mid-market powerhouse (twice as many deals but half the value compared to GS and firms like JPM/BAML that have a third of the deals but c.20-30% more value in the last couples of years in Europe) Isn't, for example, Lazard historically more reputable/stronger even in London?

No, Lazard is not more reputable in London. Lazard is stronger in the US, while Rothschild is stronger in Europe. I would even go as far as saying that Rothschild is the most reputable shop in Europe. I agree with the number of deals (smaller but many), Rothschild has the most M&A deals globally. At the same time it is important to mention that they worked on some landmark transactions and they often win huge deals against BB or Lazard.

Rothschild is undoubtedly top bank in Europe. Comparing with GS is difficult as it's like comparing GS with Lazard in NY. They are all extremely prestigious.

 

At my company, we rank candidates coming from Rothschild, Lazard, JPM, MS and GS as tier 1. Other Bulge Bracket as tier 2. etc.

 

Are you working at a MF in London? Where exactly is the reputation of RS coming from? Just looking at the deals, RS is on a lot less of the megadeals and very transformative deals than the top BBs and Lazard but has a higher deal count in Europe (although I know for a fact that a lot is done from the regional offices in Paris and FFM). Given that also places like BAML/Citi will have significantly larger deals, is it fair to say that in your experience the mere number of deals worked on trumps the complexity/transformative nature of the deal for PE recruiting?

 

Lol looks like someone is joining Rothschild in London. For what is worth they are a very good MM shop with insane volume of deals. Not remotely close to GS and MS which are traditionally the strongest shops in Europe .

 

''Not remotely close to GS and MS''. Perhaps someone should look at factual evidence before making statements. Here's the most recent league table for Europe.

Rank Adviser Market Share (%) Total Deal Value 1 Goldman Sachs 15% 577149 2 Morgan Stanley 14% 548272 3 JP Morgan 11% 409719 4 BAML 11% 409072 5 Rothschild 10% 395722 6 Lazard Ltd 10% 372145 7 Citi 8% 328663 8 Credit Suisse 8% 296049 9 UBS 7% 270610 10 Deutsche Bank 6% 225590

 

I don't think I would agree with most comments on here. Surely Rothschild is a prestigious institution but they are known to take on volume over quality of deals and do a lot more smaller deals than the BB's would normally touch.

They do have a top notch restructuring team and are certainly well placed for more aggressive actions in a restructuring.

Their Paris office has a massive wine cellar and MD's will sometimes open it for high value clients.

I also don't think they have good placement for large PE funds if that's your main focus but people that went there done usually ok. I think GS would be a better rounded experience in general. Lazard overall has better placement at high caliber buyside funds than Rothschild in London thats for sure.

"too good to be true" See my WSO Blog
 

Know some guys from the London and German office. They communicated quite open that they advise almost every deal possible as long as it pays fees. Deal size is about 1/3 of the average deal size of BBs. Certainly king of mid market but miles away from T1 BBs regarding prestige and exit ops. But a cool name when you try to explain your non-banking friends what you are doing

 

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