Help Needed: West Coast Offices

wondering if anyone has insight on the west coast offices, more specifically:

1) which firm is strong in which location (SF, LA, Palo Alto/Menlo Park)? From reading the forum I only know that UBS and CS are strong in LA.
2) anything regarding the groups/culture/prestige/dealflow of those respective offices

any advice would be greatly appreciated

 
Best Response

GS SF TMT (not real estate its new and upcoming) Morgan Stanley M&A UBS LA Credit Suisse LA Credit Suisse Tech/Tech M&A

Those are known ones

Honorable mentions UBS SF Restructuring/LevFin

JPM SF/LA = jokers Lehman Sf/Menlo = jokers Lehman FSG in LA = jokers Merrill Lynch SF/PA/LA = jokers

Bear/Deutsche are probobly baseball teams because they just pitch.

-- Interview Guides GMAT Tutors WSO Resume Review --- Current: Senior Analyst - Hedge Fund Past: Associate - Tech Buyout Analyst - Morgan St
 

Probably really similar to BB M&A. This is heavily biased towards exit opportunities however.

Tops: UBS LA - Generalist ,CS LA - Generalist ,GS -TMT, MS - M&A (no order)

2nd Tier: CS SF, both M&A and corporate finance

3rd Tier: UBS SF FSLF & Restructuring

Nothing else is probably worth going to unless you are looking for an easy time and not particularly focused on anything else.

 

for someone who's not working in banking yet, where do they go to find out about the dealflow of these offices that you guys are talking about? or is it just knowledge from being in the industry and talking to people?

 
pitchmonkey:
ML SF (formerly PA) Healthcare has a ton of deal flow. ML Healthcare is huge, and their San Francisco group handles almost all of their bio-tech and med-tech stuff. The co-Group Head is out there, and they have a lot of good work.

that's weird, because my friend who just SA and accepted full time offer at ML palo alto tech M&A told me that the people in the SF healthcare office have nothing to do and go home at 7pm. told me to go there if i want to just chill...?

 

poor etiquette asking you that on the board.

I don't know about ML Tech, but generally I wouldn't want to work at ML west coast given a choice.

I would pick the two LA offices / GS / MS completely based on interests, prestige at that point doesn't really matter (if you want PE/HF). If you just want solid deal flow any of those plus CS Tech is fine in my opinion.

 
Westcoasting:
poor etiquette asking you that on the board.

I don't know about ML Tech, but generally I wouldn't want to work at ML west coast given a choice.

I would pick the two LA offices / GS / MS completely based on interests, prestige at that point doesn't really matter (if you want PE/HF). If you just want solid deal flow any of those plus CS Tech is fine in my opinion.

ML Tech has high turnover. They all want to work for MS Tech. ML M&A is solid for what it is. Exit opps from both groups are okay.

ML HC has very relaxed hours. Good group to be with. Analysts from there have gone onto good HFs.

 

Just trying to clear things up.

I was told by someone who worked at CS in SF during the Quattrone days that all the CS bankers but one left for DB SF. She was very clear that DB was pretty big in the tech scene out there because of this, and that CS was on the way up but nowhere near what it was. Wondering why the knock on DB in SF if this is true?

 

Pros / Cons of going to one or the other at the associate level? Also thinking about a boutique m&a shop in SF. Plan is to do 2/3 yrs and then PE...I know at the analyst level this is a pretty clear path, but not so sure at the associate level.

 

but prestige is. If you summer at one of the two LA office or GS/MS I would say more top groups and banks would take you seriously vs. somewhere like Bear LA.

You wan't to go to an office that sources and executes deals and is generally well regarded. The old DLJ LA office and GS/MS in SF/PA will get you that required recognition.

For example, a girl i know from GS SF this year transferred to GS NY CRG. Four guys in the '04 summer class at UBS LA went to GS NY. Couple guys went CS LA to LEH, MS etc NY. Don't know much about people at MS West coast, maybe BB M&A can help you out there.

Your summer group DOES matter.

 

They compete against like Revolution Partners and Montgomery and Company for deals (pure niche lower MM banks)

DB in SF is not great at all. If you think co managing all your deals greater than 300mm is cool go for it, or joint booking sub 300 deals by all means.

Westcoasting knows what he is talking about UBS LA is the shit. No I don't work there

-- Interview Guides GMAT Tutors WSO Resume Review --- Current: Senior Analyst - Hedge Fund Past: Associate - Tech Buyout Analyst - Morgan St
 

Lehman LA's Gaming group is strong--I know they work on some high-profile deals unlike the their joker sponsors counterparts. Our internal deal announcements always have them involved in some big casino deal while we hardly ever see their sponsor's team in any deal announcements.

 

The West Coast is all about UBS/CS LA and GS/MS. Everything else falls a notch below and everyone who matters knows that.

Ari Gold- CS appears to have become sole bankers to Google, but they are still a notch below their GS/MS counterparts.

 

LEH's FIG and Industrials got wiped out (some kids in my analyst class got axed) but their Gaming guys get crushed but hardly do any pitching (only reason I know is because we work with them on a bunch of their deals). Good exit opps--two analysts in the group are going to top-tier PE this summer.

 

i work at a top 2 bank in NY. from the firm directory and deal flow, my firm has excellent deal flow out of its menlo park office. MS tech/GS TMT in SF are both very strong..I would say

1 UBS LA 1a CS LA MS Tech GS TMT

Some would argue that cs LA deserves to be the ubs la tier but i am not 100% sure.

MS has also sponsors in sf and M&A in LA..sponsors in sf is OK, but rather goto NY where majority of group sits...MS LA is a joke, but they did work on the harrahs deal....but it didnt require too much work.

GS Communications is decent in LA but not on par with the above. GS also has a small FIG group in LA...They aren't worth mentioning.

Many people have also talked about the CS tech group, and indeed they are very solid!!! probably the best group outside the four I listed.

 

Yeah, the large majority of the Cs-Tech guys from the CS-Tech Quatronne days are at DB-SF, plus the Lehman Semi team.

CS-Tech in Palo Alto is either cleaned out or staffed up with new laterals or transfers from NYC. The building looks very empty nowadays. Unlike the old CS-Tech heyday where you couldn't even find parking...

 

Strong MM team. Definetely not in the same tier as the other banks discussed on this board. They are quite strong in FRG however. Exit opportunities are ok, many MM funds and distressed debt from the FRG group. Not sure about M&A or ADG which is another strong group.

Where I have worked, those lateralling into BB from HLHZ were discounted a year. This was post Associate laterals however.

 

if you are in banking and you lateral, you dont lose a year. however, you are asked to stay for 2 years so if u lateral, u have committed til the end of your 3rd year. + it looks bad to work at one place one year and another before PE...most wont even look at you.

cs tech is in the bay. i believe they moved everyone back to SF..but not 100% sure.

LOOK guys, tech is a fucking carousel..people are moving around all the time between CS, DB, Citi, Lehman, UBS... the main players are GS/MS bar none!. their people stay. CS tech is headed by two great guys. one in the bay and another in NY..

DB tech is only good for debt financing, but even that, most of it is handled by their lev fin team.

IMHO, tech banking isnt glamorous at all. it is essentially a diff type of modeling... give me consumer, industrial, media-communications any day over tech.

 

My thoughts on the firms for the west coast: 1: GS TMT/MS M&A/UBS LA Generalist 2: MS Tech 3: CS LA / CS Tech 4: UBS SF Restructuring 5: UBS SF Technology / GS LA / MS LA 6: Lehman Menlo / Houlihan ADG (LA) 7: JP Morgan / Citi Group 8: Bear Stearns TMT / Lazard TMT / Deutsche / Lehman LA 9: Piper / Wachovia 10: Thomas Weisel Partners / Montgomery & Co. / Savvian

Thoughts?

-- Interview Guides GMAT Tutors WSO Resume Review --- Current: Senior Analyst - Hedge Fund Past: Associate - Tech Buyout Analyst - Morgan St
 

Lazard sf TMT is a shit show...in matter of fact, outside of lazard's ny and chi offices, nothing else is worth it.

they just pitch all day. sure microsoft is a client of theirs, but they rarely hire outside banks in the first place since they have a huge internal team. a lot of the mds there are industry ppl. the lazard name is great, but everyone knows their presence in sf is a joke. same with their LA "gaming" office, whatever that means.

bbM&A..that list is fine except MS tech/MS MA.. MS tech M&A is great, MS tech is great. i sort of lump the two into one. MS generalist M&A out of LA is a joke. would take UBS, cs, GS LA all over that and some of their bay counterparts. LA is a terrible place to do banking outside of ubs, cs, gs comm/media in my opinion.

 

Right... when I said M&A i meant Tech M&A (for MS).... i like to think that tech M&A is better than tech at MS. I also listed MS separately for LA. Just my personal thought.

I forgot to add Merrill to that list.

1: GS TMT/MS M&A/UBS LA Generalist 2: MS Tech 3: CS LA / CS Tech 4: UBS SF Restructuring 5: UBS SF/LA Technology / GS LA / MS LA 6: Lehman Menlo / Houlihan ADG (LA) / Merrill Tech M&A 7: JP Morgan / Citi Group / Merill Tech / Merrill Healthcare 8: Bear Stearns TMT / Lazard TMT / Deutsche (FIG in LA could arguably be lower) / Lehman LA / Merrill LA 9: Piper / Wachovia / HLHZ (not FAS) 10: Thomas Weisel Partners / Montgomery & Co. / Savvian

-- Interview Guides GMAT Tutors WSO Resume Review --- Current: Senior Analyst - Hedge Fund Past: Associate - Tech Buyout Analyst - Morgan St
 
<span class=keyword_link><a href=/finance-dictionary/what-is-the-bulge-bracket-BB><abbr title=bulge bracket&#10;>BB</abbr></a></span>.MandA.3rdyear:
Right... when I said M&A i meant Tech M&A (for MS).... i like to think that tech M&A is better than tech at MS. I also listed MS separately for LA. Just my personal thought.

I forgot to add Merrill to that list.

1: GS TMT/MS M&A/UBS LA Generalist 2: MS Tech 3: CS LA / CS Tech 4: UBS SF Restructuring 5: UBS SF/LA Technology / GS LA / MS LA 6: Lehman Menlo / Houlihan ADG (LA) / Merrill Tech M&A 7: JP Morgan / Citi Group / Merill Tech / Merrill Healthcare 8: Bear Stearns TMT / Lazard TMT / Deutsche (FIG in LA could arguably be lower) / Lehman LA / Merrill LA 9: Piper / Wachovia / HLHZ (not FAS) 10: Thomas Weisel Partners / Montgomery & Co. / Savvian

Could you tell me more about UBS SF restructuring? Is it more on the debtor or creditor side? Specific industries? Sorry for multiple questions.

Oh boy, piper/wachovia/TWP/Montco are not great places to be. No offense to anyone.

 

optical charge: I know a guy at UBS SF restructuring seems pretty good, I believe they are generalists and they call themselves FSLF more focus on the LF.

ss: I'd say if you can get into my rankings as top 3 you are Money.

4-6 are respectable too, if you can't get those you should work at your current place and lateral. I know people at other banks and they are having a rough time with exit opps.

-- Interview Guides GMAT Tutors WSO Resume Review --- Current: Senior Analyst - Hedge Fund Past: Associate - Tech Buyout Analyst - Morgan St
 

It's the senior bankers that make a difference... All the monkeys do the SAME THING. Next time you think that YOU are actually doing better work because you are in a "better" group, you might want to take a step back and re-evaluate the situation.

I work at a boutique and our clients give us pitch books and IMs created by all sorts of banks. Every one looks exactly the same... Just change the name.

 

I'd say work is group dependent; products vary, industries vary. Also, utilizing pitch materials from other banks is very ethical

aspiringmonkeyisanidiot:
It's the senior bankers that make a difference... All the monkeys do the SAME THING. Next time you think that YOU are actually doing better work because you are in a "better" group, you might want to take a step back and re-evaluate the situation.

I work at a boutique and our clients give us pitch books and IMs created by all sorts of banks. Every one looks exactly the same... Just change the name.

-- Interview Guides GMAT Tutors WSO Resume Review --- Current: Senior Analyst - Hedge Fund Past: Associate - Tech Buyout Analyst - Morgan St
 

I agree, but for all intents and purposes a pitch book is a pitch book and an IM is an IM.

Let's be clear, we DO NOT use the material. What I meant by "just change the name" is that the only thing that distinguishes one banks book from another is the name on the cover.

That would definitely be fucked up to take credit for some other analysts/associates work.

 

Who knows why DB is never mentioned

Market Watch Tech Banking Article

"Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank emerged as a major technology M&A firm in 2005 after hiring a team of more than 10 bankers from Credit Suisse First Boston by Tor Braham. The hires, which included Internet banker Emmanuel DeSousa and software experts Richard Hart and Brian Truesdale, were announced in February 2004, but many of the deals only started kicking in this year. Deutsche was an adviser on 15 technology transactions in 2005 worth more than $22 billion, making the bank the fourth-biggest dealmaker in the industry, Thomson Financial data shows. In 2004, Deutsche advised on 10 deals, but they were worth less than $1 billion in total. That left the bank nineteenth. "Deutsche has made a major investment in technology and we worked very hard," Braham said. "We had a lot of deals we were working on at CSFB and most of those relationships came over to Deutsche with us." Deutsche's biggest deal in 2005 was probably its advisory role in the acquisition of SunGuard. The bank managed the sale of high-yield debt that helped Silver Lake and the rest of the investor group finance the deal, Braham said. Deutsche was also involved in IBM's acquisition of Ascential Software and the purchase of Retek Inc. by Oracle, he added. Braham, 48, expects another good year in 2006 and a "very good" first quarter, with a number of deals that are close to completion. "It was done the old-fashioned way of chasing business, winning it and hoping the deals happen," he said. "I feel pretty strongly that at the end of 2006 we won't be going down into the cellar again." "

Top U.S. technology dealmakers of 2005 Bank Value of deals Number of deals Goldman Sachs $32.4 billion 29 Morgan Stanley $30.9 billion 22 Citigroup $26.7 billion 23 Deutsche Bank $22.3 billion 15 CSFB $18.7 billion 28 J.P. Morgan Chase $15.5 billion 15 Lehman Brothers $13.7 billion 20 Lazard $12.5 billion 10 Bear Stearns $11.2 billion 13 Stephens Inc. $7 billion 6

Anyone know the 2006 tech dealmaking numbers?

 

are these rankings still relevant today? have there been any shifts in the rankings?

<span class=keyword_link><a href=//www.wallstreetoasis.com/finance-dictionary/what-is-the-bulge-bracket-BB>BB</a></span>.MandA.3rdyear:

1: GS TMT/MS M&A/UBS LA Generalist 2: MS Tech 3: CS LA / CS Tech 4: UBS SF Restructuring 5: UBS SF/LA Technology / GS LA / MS LA 6: Lehman Menlo / Houlihan ADG (LA) / Merrill Tech M&A 7: JP Morgan / Citi Group / Merill Tech / Merrill Healthcare 8: Bear Stearns TMT / Lazard TMT / Deutsche (FIG in LA could arguably be lower) / Lehman LA / Merrill LA 9: Piper / Wachovia / HLHZ (not FAS) 10: Thomas Weisel Partners / Montgomery & Co. / Savvian

 

For tech I would put GS TMT in SF and MS Tech in Menlo at 1 and 2

For SF I would put MS (they have a general West Coast CorpFin team in SF and a Sponsors team) at 2 and Goldman's general corp fin team #2. The MS Sponsors team in SF is also quite good since the Sponsors group at Morgan started on the West Coast before it did in NY and the global head is based in SF. They do a lot of tech sponsor business and are super close to TPG. Exit ops out of SF MS Sponsors or SF GS are really strong with offers to H&F, KKR, TPG, and Blackstone regularly received.

I LA is still has to be UBS and CS with GS and JPM competing strongly. Some of the MS M&A guys in LA are also quite good.

The Prince of Wall Street

http://www.princeofwallstreet.com

 

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