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BofA's M&A is decent, but dealflow there has been somewhat weak lately.
Citi M&A is great. The bank's back again, and you wouldn't be wrong to choose it over an elite boutique. I'd make the case depending on fit with the group (surprisingly nice junior and senior guys).
JP M&A is good. Solid bank. Can't go wrong
Barc doesn't have a split out M&A group. M&A is within coverage so if there's an industry you especially enjoy/are interested in, it could be a good way to go. Healthcare / Power / NatRes are solid options.
CS's M&A is good, but i'd choose another group there if given the option (Sponsors/Healthcare/TMT)
DB: I'd avoid M&A (unless in EU). Perhaps LevFin would be the way to go.
GS coverage: can't go wrong. Really like the Healthcare, ConsRetail teams
Elite boutiques are great especially for analysts since they solidify chances of moving to the buyside. Being at a BB, however, you do get to see and participate in a broad array of offerings a full service bank can provide its clients. In all honesty, however, I think the primary driver in your decision (assuming that so-called "prestige" and exit options are the same) should be fit with the group. You can go to a great group, but if you hate your team, you'll be miserable.
Is Citi M&A still as strong as some say? It was quite strong during the past decade, but I thought Citi lost some of the top M&A people (forget the names of who I am thinking of, one man, one woman from circa 2005-2006).
bump
I am also very interested in hearing what people have to say about this.
Also, why wasnt MS mentioned? Is it just assumed that this is the best pure play M&A group on the street?
sounds like bankbanker love healthcare. If you are focused on M&A i would go MS, JPM for BBs and all the elite boutiques have a top M&A practice with Blackstone as my favorite for exit opps/prestige reasons
Correct - M&A group, healthcare.
The best bulge bracket with a dedicated M&A group is Morgan Stanley. M&A is the firm's crown jewel and they do it well. Taubman recently left the firm and it remains to be seen how things will shape up in the coming years, but historically they have dominated. It offers phenomenal exit opps, solid and diverse deal experience, and a gold stamp on your resume.
JPM M&A is strong (though not the strongest group at the firm). Sponsors places as well or better.
GS and Barclays do not split it off separately, rather, it is a product offered by the various industry coverage teams. That being said, GS has recently launched an M&A team, right now it's a handful (3-5) of PMDs, two Associates, two analysts, and this is the first year they've started taking summers.
CS M&A used to be regarded fairly well, but it's not particularly strong anymore. Sponsors is probably the strongest there, though their last megafund placement was four years ago I believe. Know an alum who had to take a third year because recruiting didn't work out.
Citi M&A is historically strong; withstood some harm since the crisis but is alive again and filling out.
Hope this helps.
GS recently launched an M&A group? Could you elaborate on this - I'm guessing all M&A deals will be outsourced to the M&A group instead of the GS traditional industry-group-covering-all style that we've seen till now?
GS has always had an M&A group (at some point they called it Merger Leadership Group, or MLG). They work on special topics like anti-raid.
right - sorry i misworded. meant to say "as was the case for MLG, GS M&A does not do deal execution"
.
What boutique are known for M&A then?
Lazard, Greenhill, Evercore, Moelis ...
Search around a little, there are hundreds of threads abouts the Elite Boutiques.
Excuse my probably 'dumb' question but are exit opps better when coming from an elite boutique or when coming from a prestigious BB?
EB and top BB are the same exit opps wise, there are exception depending on your group though, ie GS TMT or MS M&A etc.
Bump. how does WF m&a stack up against the other BB m&a groups? i imagine it to be on par with Citi/JP/CS
are you kidding me? WF is all levfin/DCM, not even on par with ubs
Absolutely not. Not even close. WF M&A is an ok middle market group, BB M&A groups are top-notch. There are many MM IB firms I would take over WF M&A (e.g. Jefferies, HW, HLHZ for certain groups, Stifel for certain groups, etc.)
Great comment - Id kiss you If you were sitting next to me. This guy knows what he's talking about.
I'm a bit confused by the part about BAML's deal flow being pretty weak... Aren't they second in announced deal value and third in announced deal volume this year?
Maybe you're screwing around but JPM/CS/Citi is a pretty eclectic group to compare in terms of M&A franchise.
In terms of Wells' M&A franchise - they're not active on the advisory side. That being said, they're very active on the financing side, which is all that buyside people ever really care about.
Like... on big buyouts, the work LevFin desks do matters in terms of setting up the capital structure, but buyside guys don't need coverage/M&A bankers to tell us what our ROE would be under their retarded assumptions.
Rip on wells all you want for not playing in the corp fin advisory space - the big self-important advisory shops' advice is a big joke anyways. Wells is very good at what I actually care about in terms of a banks ability to deliver - the financing side.
Plus, tale of the tape. Wells has been absolutely fucking smoking the BBs in terms of earnings for a long time now. Hope your mother's proud of the logo on your business card - wells makes money and the big fancy advisory firms don't.
How is any of this even relevant? You come into these threads with a contrarian view every single time and it's largely useless. I couldn't care less how much money my bank made as long as they made enough not to fire analysts and pay them an amount that wasn't insultingly low.
There really is no comparison and this should be emphasized because people can read posts like yours and get the wrong idea about what to pick. Especially if they have offers between, say, a top MM and WF.
To anyone reading this: you should pick the top MM.
Edit: And if it's all buyside people care about, where is the placement?
I would like to see renewed thoughts on this topic. Also how is WF M&A since they went up in rankings?
Shut up. No one cares about you and your undying need of trying to justify the fact that you're looking for a silver lining of working for WF.
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