Best Response

MS has a particularly large number of groups relative to the other BBs, so I'll try to say what I know about each one in terms of the 3 categories you mentioned as well as general culture.

M&A- MS is M&A and vice versa- best M&A group on the street and best group at the firm. Truly its Crown Jewel. Very large group and pretty rigid culture (maybe comparable to a Goldman FIG), but you know what you are getting yourself into and you'll have options everywhere after 2 years.

Sponsors- Small group but places incredibly well into PE- very laid back and also very difficult to place into. Probably has the 2nd best placement at the firm, but you don't hear much about them because the size is on the smaller end of the spectrum. I know they have sent someone recently to Carlyle, and I think MF placement is fairly common.

Power/Utilities + Mediacomm- Both groups do their own M&A which is an attractive feature and helps them out in recruiting. Mediacomm was always considered to be the go-to industry group, but has been hitting some rough patches in the last 2-3 years. Power/Utilities is a leader in the space- pretty big group at the firm but has placed incredibly well in recent years.

Transportation- Don't have much to compare it to at other firms, but at MS one of the top groups culture wise and with senior people really willing to help analysts exit to very solid places. Someone shit on MS Transpo in another thread recently, but it would be one of my top choices at the firm if I was looking at specific groups. Know they sent an analyst recently to Providence.

Real Estate- Not sure how RE has been performing in recent years, but has a good reputation of placing into phenomenal REPE (including the MS REPE group). Mid-sized group, and they are good at what they do.

East Coast Tech- smaller group, and most of the big tech deals are run out of Menlo. That said, they have had some solid placement recently (1 going to TPG this year), and I think it is still fairly highly regarded with HHs. Don't think dealflow is anything to cry home about, but not a bad option.

Healthcare- I feel like every healthcare group these days has strong dealflow just because the space is thriving. This is no different for MS HC. Larger group and pretty brutal hours because so much is getting done. MS is strong in the space, though JPM is the lead player.

FIG- larger group and very 'prestigious' if that's your thing. Probably 2nd best FIG group on the street (I'd go GS, MS, JP). Pretty tough culture group, and after GS most FIG placement anywhere isn't going to be great and is going to be primarily to FIG focused shops- JC Flowers, etc.

Industrials/CRG- Both groups are very busy and analyst hours are pretty rough. Neither are super strong players in the space (Industrials GS, JP, and DB are big names and CRG GS, BAML, and CS are big players). I think exits are fine but nothing great.

Natural Resources- smaller group but great for what it is. Exits to O&G focused buy-side shops will be very strong if that is your thing. Tough group as far as culture goes.

Business Services- Newer group and not sure how the deal flow is. Small group (maybe 3-6 analysts total), and not sure how placement is. I know they sent one person to a strong PE shop last year (name is escaping me), and I think 1 of them stayed on and went to MS Private Equity (which is not a bad option at all). I would probably avoid unless you are really attracted to the people and it seems like a perfect fit.

LatAm- I'm sure it is decent, don't know anything about it.

Can expand on most of these if you would like or specific ones (just let me know). Have friends at most of these groups and know a fair amount about them. Note- not employed by MS.

 

Would reiterate that the top 3 are M&A, Power & Utilities, and Mediacomms, with Power & Utilities having the best culture. "Phenomenal" placement for Power & Utilities and Mediacomms is a relative term. You should expect interviews at almost all the upper MM PE shops and 1 or 2 megafunds, unlike M&A, where you'll get a shot at almost all of the megafunds.

 
distressedfirstyear:

Would reiterate that the top 3 are M&A, Power & Utilities, and Mediacomms, with Power & Utilities having the best culture. "Phenomenal" placement for Power & Utilities and Mediacomms is a relative term. You should expect interviews at almost all the upper MM PE shops and 1 or 2 megafunds, unlike M&A, where you'll get a shot at almost all of the megafunds.

I would add here that exits for Mediacomm are more of the usual suspects, and while this is true for P/U, they send to some energy and infrastructure specific funds as well (think Riverstone, and GIP). Great places to be if that is what you're interested in, but less traditional exits than groups in other 'more mainstream' industries (HC, Consumer, etc).

 
BullishBanker:
Does anyone know whether you recruit directly into product or coverage groups, or into the NYC office, then get placed into the groups during training?

Not sure either. Sounds like everyone starts as generalist, however if you have a certain connect to a specific group you might be "preselected".

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Penn88:
For NY office, you interview for either products or coverage within IBD. Products is Global Capital Markets and they call coverage Investment Banking (kind of strange, but that's how it's structured).

What? M&A is definitely not in GCM.

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Overall, the culture is collegial. Would stick with the groups that have preserved their culture and have had minimal senior turnover. The groups with laterals aren't as good. The good groups, you'll get your butt kicked, but you'll learn a ton (M&A, very intense; media - hard working/lean but great experience; Industrials, Materials, Transportation are great also; tech is good also, but Menlo does the west coast deals).

 

Just went in for my sell day 2 week ago.

Pretty intense overall but I think the above poster is right, the tough groups make you work hard but you learn alot.

everyone I met was friendly, only group i didn't like much was the services group

 

Tech is very intense, HC a bit more chill; the office is pretty collegial in nature but expect to work very hard.

On a random note, this is the same office that the whole jeffrey chiang debacle started...all the guys there seemed to enjoy that brief bit of humor

 

The tech group in NYC is strong in part because the Menlo Park based Tech group on the West Coast is very very strong. They sort of dovetail and pick up work based on Morgan Stanley's strong tech reputation. Regardless of the Facebook drama, Morgan Stanley's tech group is still the leader by a mile.

The NYC based tech group tends to do a lot of sponsor transactions with mature tech companies, and with larger tech service companies. They for sure do a lot more M&A than equity, but most of the M&A is supported by their M&A group with the NYC Tech guys handling the client. They also have a small Services Group and a large Financial Sponsors Group, that often works with the Tech folks out in NYC.

That all said, Grimes is the head of Global Tech, so everyone in NYC technically works for him, but he sits in Menlo Park.

Hope that helps

 

MS splits tech into regional coverage. Because of the nature of the east coast technology industry, they focus primarily software with some semi's and internet deals, as well.

When one man, for whatever reason, has an opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself.
 
walton12:
I've seen a couple of IBD group rankings for Morgan Stanley, but no recent ones. How would you guys, who have related experience, rank the following groups in terms of M&A work and placement into PE Shops and HFs?

Healthcare Technology (East coast) M&A Business Services Real Estate Industrials Consumer Retail FIG

Thanks for the insight!

M&A - strongest group at the firm, places lights out in PE and HF, one of the best groups for exit opps across the street; you'll get absolutely brutalized in terms of hours, but if you are dead set on buy-side exits, this is what you need to be gunning for

Tech - poor culture in the NYC office; if you can get Menlo, it's an incredible experience .. East Coast, not so much

Real Estate - premiere RE group but will absolutely pigeonhole you for RE exits (REPE, REIT, etc.); if that's what you want, pursue it, otherwise avoid it

FIG - smart and hardworking guys but a reputedly odd culture; one of the worst for work-life balance, and also pigeonholes you to some extent for FIG-related buy-side placement

Retail - middle of the pack

Industrials - fairly strong, seemed fratty (even relative to the firm being fratty overall), consistent PE placement with megafund every couple years

I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 
APAE:

Real Estate - premiere RE group but will absolutely pigeonhole you for RE exits (REPE, REIT, etc.); if that's what you want, pursue it, otherwise avoid it

Just a question: if it's a premier group, wouldn't that mean you'd be seen more favourably by ordinary PE?

(I remember reading here that, of those groups that pigeonhole somebody, the better said group is = the less it pigeonholes you)

Also, "brutalized" in terms of hours means on average how many a week?

 

Yea, I think the pigeonhole theory, if you will, is a little misconstrued for real estate. The analysis is fairly similar less a couple of line items (i.e cap rate, FFO). And also I think MS real estate deals with more EBITDA centered companies like hotels and casinos.

Thoughts?

 
Battleship:
Transportation is a good group in London. Utilities as well.

Short of outright saying Public Finance, you literally picked the two most repulsive groups I could think of. Not just at MS, but at any bank. Heavy public sector industries, no fucking thank you!

“Millionaires don't use astrology, billionaires do”
 
BankerChimp:
Thoughts on NatRes and MediaComms placements out of NY? I hear both are pretty solid with the latter offering a lot of exposure.

Nat. Res is the energy group, split into power and O&G (which covers upstream-some parts of downstream value chain). Can only speak to the O&G group, they've had some strong acreage / JV deals, pretty solid with equity issuances and they bank BP almost exclusively. All the blockbuster M&A O&G deals go to BarCap and CS, so your experience at MS in this group is going to pretty similar to the other BB's sans DB and UBS which both suck ass. Nice guys, however. Heard culture in HOU is pretty good / relatively laid back.

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BankerChimp:
Thoughts on NatRes and MediaComms placements out of NY? I hear both are pretty solid with the latter offering a lot of exposure.
Media & Comm places strongly. Warm culture as well.
I am permanently behind on PMs, it's not personal.
 

MS Industrials, some seriously chay bros. If you don't consider the Masters at Augusta your Superbowl, frequent Bowery Electric and didn't get, falsely, accused of rape as a D1 college lacrosse player from a notable private school in NC, this probably isn't the group for you. Try healthcare or something.

Ace all your PE interview questions with the WSO Private Equity Prep Pack: http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/guide/private-equity-interview-prep-questions
 

Here's a ranking / league table for private tech company M&A bankers for 2012. Morgan Stanley was #2 last year for private tech M&A deals tracked by private company / private M&A data firm PrivCo (they won't allow me to post the link for some damn reason so just go to privco (dot) com and right now the Ibanking rankings for private tech company M&A for 2012 is on the home page toward the bottom. Hope that helps.

 

Media & Comms probably has best placement in at MS in London, very strong team, top notch in Europe, also has reputation of being worked the hardest, at least back in the days. HC is very solid as well, good placement and been on many of the large deals in the past years though second to GS HC in London.

Pool is a popular choice as it is quite large and deals with all industry verticals. Generally it seemed like people from the pool are not as integrated into the deals/have support from the respective teams and during deals most of the modeling work is split between them and the industry guys so the exposure will not be that different (its probably the more generalist start into a career in banking which is not a bad thing)

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I'm not sure where you're getting your information, but an LBO is a type of acquisition. You are acquiring a company via a leveraged buyout. the "A" in "M&A" stands for acquisition, just in case you weren't aware. Some banks have a seperate LevFin division that specializes in that sort of thing, but it ultimately falls under the same category. Same thing applies to divestitures, takeover defense, shareholder relations, corporate restructurings, etc etc

 

Understood, but I guess what I'm trying to get at is in the event of an lbo for instance (where ms has a sponsors group) or any other industry specific deal what function does the m&a group play? Is this group a pure product group like it's name would indicate or is it more of an advisory group that has direct client relationships? What would analysts in this group be doing (is there still a good amount of pitching or more executing since it's technically a product group)?

 

Group is strong, places well, and senior people are known to treat analysts well. Also very well respected in the firm - they had the only direct promote after two years this past year I believe. They work more than average though.

 

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