GCA Savvian

good exit ops to other investment banks.

^What Ibanks? Like GS/JPM Ibanks or like Jefferies.

What about to MM PE? Do they have a good rep on the street?

Yea I'd be interested to learn more...street cred...culture...watevs

but their west coast group (tech focused) is pretty decent and their guys tend to go into various WC boutiques, mm & bb.

..lazard, thomas weisel and jpm are some examples

savvian itself is an okay firm, not quite evercore and but definitely not stanford financial group

I enjoyed meeting with them and their NYC office is pretty fucking sweet. Small analyst class of like 5-6 (this past fall), believe they were mostly kids from Dartmouth...I think the dealflow is ok, but where they really do well is in Japan.

I'm sure the exit ops are pretty decent. Most of their senior guys come from great backgrounds, so its probably a good place to start your career.

are they on the same level as Peter J Solomon, Oppenheimer, and Broadpoint Gleacher?

Piper Jaffray used to be better than GCA, but I think it's on a slightly different tier now.

I'm just trying to get a clearer picture of where GCA Savvian stands in terms of tier, and also how entry to PE and/or b-business would be like afterwards.

They are decent, like a tier below TWP, Cowen, the bigger MM at SF.

The people are really nice though, and I am sure you will get some great deal experience there although the size is usually small.

exit opps to pe are not good

This is the worst of boutique and bulge bracket. MDs THINK they're still bulge bracket and expect juniors to work comparable hours, but reveneus/quality of deals is akin to lower boutiques. Reveneus for 2009 were $16MM for the US and projected to do $19MM for 2010, with 22 freakin' MDs!!! That's pretty pathetic by any stretch. Consequently, noone got paid and rats are fleeing the ship. Analysts through VPs have resumes out, only a matter of time.

On top of that senior exec team has an heir of superiority that isn't justified/earned and doesn't care about junior professionals. It beats not being employed but not by much. Lots of pitching no deals getting done. Some quality senior people but few and far.

They do have nice offices tho and c

^^ its "air" of superiority not "heir" ... and you sound like a disgruntled employee if I knew one

Is the above criticism/rant more or less true? Any other thoughts?

interviewed with them in fall for FT. very chill guys, both from SF. Easy interview, dcf, why ib, 1 brainteaser. how many cows does mcdonalds kill each day.

pretty simple.

I know two of the MDs who are building out London... PM me if you want to know more...

I interviewed at GCA Savvian's SF office and loved it. The guys were awesome and the office itself was sweet. Pay is on par with the rest of the street, and deal-flow is solid. Interview was pretty easy - basic questions about DCF, trading comps, and one brain teaser (I also got the how many cows does McD kill / year).

untrue. they pay 65 base and just reimburse moving costs (not 10k)..cant imagine bonuses stack up to BB. Also got the mcdonalds question...was kinda funny

lol they ask the same brain teaser? or maybe you guys are from the same school?

hmm...did not know about the lack of 10k signing - that would be a deal breaker for me if I did not already decide to go elsewhere.

GCA Savvian vs. Financial Technology Partners.

Who is the winner?

I would say GCA Savvian on that one...they get better deal flow, especially if you are interested in digital media, or cross border shit.

This is one of the stupider posts on WSO.

As someone who read this post prior to receiving an offer, it bothered me how inaccurate it was.

First of all, pay is standard for investment banking, 70-80-90 scale for 1st-2nd-3rd years, respectively, with bonus that is generally on par with bulge bracket averages.

Comparing it to Piper Jaffray and FTP doesn't make sense in either case, and it's easily better than both - see the recent transactions page or read the bios of every MD if you disagree. Also, its definitely a tier above TWP (prior to acquisition by Stifel), Cowen, et al. Maybe the firm as a whole is not yet on the same level as Evercore, Greenhill, etc., but the MDs could work at any one of those banks if they wanted to so the experience a junior person gets is first rate.

Deal size varies as it does at a lot of boutiques, but their clients are legit (i.e. they advise a lot of large public co.'s buying high growth firms to drive business)

Exit opps to PE, VC and other areas of finance are fine, particularly on the west coast as their MDs have worked at top firms.

Nearly worked there but chose DCM at bulge instead.

I have heard two different pay numbers for first years...65k and 70k. Anyone have an actual number on this?

lol 65k base. understreet. i rejected non-street.

Its 70 first year...I have the offer letter to prove it...and they told me the 2nd and 3rd year pay was 80 and 90, respectively.

bump

I don't know how good they are as bankers, but I had an offer from them last year and really, they were very classy during the recruiting season. They narrowed down the field quickly to those they were interested in, hosted a fantastic private room dinner to get to know the firm (instead of those bullshit 'info sessions' held at a hotel) and the guy (SVP) who was in charge of my school was really smart in how he interviewed me and how he tried to manage the offer from his end. Ultimately I choose a BB offer but they did everything to woo me... even offered a year in Japan after I did a year in SF to learn up. I think its a good place and you can do really well there and be treated nicely.

Spoke with a VP there a few days ago and he was very classy. Definitely listened to what I had to say and gave me some great advice. I can imagine it would be a great place to work and it's definitely a firm that will be high up on my list when recruiting rolls around.

why so classy? lol... how bout hours/lifestyle and exit opps.

Anyone know what the superday is like for GCA?

superday is good. 50/50 tech/fit. guys are great and office is top floor at 150 California.

offer is 70k with bonuses similar to BB's. doing a lot of deals (1 per week), good exit ops and great people to work with.

Above post is correct. One of my best friends works there.

How do buy-side firms (hedge funds more specifically) look at a firm like this? They are a pure M&A advisory firm.

Their SF office has nearly 45 bankers, which is more than most/all BB's here on the west coast.

bum,p

last one.

I heard they advised Blimpie on their purchase of Miami Sub Shop. Was a huge deal!

good internet and digital media boutique. That's about it. Your exit opp is going to corp dev or lateral

As a client, I found their West Coast team terribly arrogant. Having worked with MS and UBS in the past, I found the shrimp at GCA act like they were doing me a favor. Had to dump them in the end and change firms.

how are they now? i knw ppl going to the SF office and hes interested in PE...the above posts seem to say that they primarily place into VC?

Bump to analystmonkey's question just above. Lifestyle seems poor from inside intel. Buddy told me they think they're bulge but don't have infrastructure for it. I.e., terrible lifestyle. From having trolled LinkedIn, doesn't look like off the charts amazing exits.

bump, anything new on them?

bump