Raymond James Investment Banking Groups

Can anyone give me any insight into Raymond James investment banking? More specifically, can anyone tell me much about their Chicago and Boston offices?

 

And could anyone (preferably someone that works at the company or a close competitor) give us some information about what they've been doing lately other than working through the integration of Morgan Keegan? Obviously their retail brokerage division is huge, but what are they doing with IB or S&T? Are they expanding in those areas?

 

Former Raymond James employee here.

Patrickstar is correct. Real Estate, Energy, and Technology Services are well respected internally and compete well in their respective areas with larger firms.

The rest of the firm is a mixed bag. There are some very strong Bankers and there are some very weak Bankers (this is different than say an elite boutique where weak Bankers are typically cut).

The firm still suffers from adverse selection on some deals. The deal sizes (and fees as a result) can be small. Again, the groups mentioned above and some Bankers at the firm don't suffer from this issue.

The culture is southern (read laid back, casual, and friendly) relative to bulge bracket firms. The atmosphere is very collegial and the Bankers are generally people you'd enjoy working and socializing with. The 401k / profit sharing is pretty awesome too!

 
thecm:

where is their energy team out of? do they focus on a particular sub-sector?

The energy team is out of their Houston office and covers all energy vertices in the middle market space with an emphasis on midstream deals.

 

Ya the culture is very Florida. It's black and white. You either fit in or you don't.

Robert Clayton Dean: What is happening? Brill: I blew up the building. Robert Clayton Dean: Why? Brill: Because you made a phone call.
 

They would be considered a middle-market firm, because that is the typical size of their clients. They would not be considered a boutique, because that refers to the size of the investment bank itself (and Ray Jay is a large organization).

I cannot comment on the NYC office. It's a recognizable name, so that in itself makes it a great launching pad in this market. The company is generally stronger in the Southeast, however.

Do you have any other offers to compare it to?

 

I've heard differing stories on hours.

A friend of mine is in the healthcare group in Nashville, TN and he typically works 60 - 80 hours per week. 60k base, not sure what the bonus looked like this year.

A guy that I know was an associate at RJF, and he told me that he worked some brutal hours, so it may depend on which office you work at (I'd imagine the New York office would have hours on par with the rest of the street). He had no problems moving to the buy side.

Definitely a solid name, especially in the South. From what I've seen, their investment banking division is a bit snootier / prestige obsessed than its peers.

 
drexelalum11:
No, you wouldn't be crazy, you'd just obviously be the type of person who is content to work at Raymond James. Which is also likely the type of person who finds the idea of working in Florida "very appealing."
Posts like this are why I still come here
 
drexelalum11:
No, you wouldn't be crazy, you'd just obviously be the type of person who is content to work at Raymond James. Which is also likely the type of person who finds the idea of working in Florida "very appealing."

LOL I love how you put it so eloquently.

 

Bro, I live in Florida. It's not all that great. The only thing we got going for us is football, bar-b-ques, the beach and tons of hot girls. On a side note, you have to deal with scorching hot weather, hurricanes, speeding tickets, and shark attacks (since we have the largest concentration of bull sharks and the most dangerous waters in the world). Also, Tampa kinda sucks as a city.... oh and I almost forgot, we have Disney World but that probably doesn't matter cause you're never gonna get a day off anyway.

 

Why are people digging up threads that are from like back in prehistoric kindergarten?

Regards

"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so." - Ronald Reagan
 

I do not understand why everyone is so obsessed with prestige and unpleasant conditions in NY. Life is not all about work. To get ahead and enjoy life later I understand, but see that not everyone wants to commit virtual suicide for ~5 (?) years before even seeing daylight.

I live in Florida right now myself. It is great. The cost of living is lower than the north, so a smaller salary is equivalent.

 
DaisukiDaYo:
As a general rule of thumb, healthcare investment banking groups are sweatshops across the board. Yes, even the boutiques w/ non-existent deal flow.

I always hear this. Is it just because healthcare is very active now, or am I missing something?

"They are all former investment bankers that were laid off in the economic collapse that Nancy Pelosi caused. They have no marketable skills, but by God they work hard."
 

Mostly it's because the space is extremely competitive and there are a few big players while the rest barely cough up any fees. So you'll be spending a huge amount of time pitching and doing useless amounts of irrelevant work to even get a glimpse of a fee, and this is at a mid-BB.

I feel bad for the mid market and boutique guys, as listed above even with 0 deals and nonexistent pipeline you will be pitching 24/7 and working your ass off with nothing to show for it.

 
SanityCheck:
Mostly it's because the space is extremely competitive and there are a few big players while the rest barely cough up any fees. So you'll be spending a huge amount of time pitching and doing useless amounts of irrelevant work to even get a glimpse of a fee, and this is at a mid-BB.

I feel bad for the mid market and boutique guys, as listed above even with 0 deals and nonexistent pipeline you will be pitching 24/7 and working your ass off with nothing to show for it.

Thank you for your sympathy - :) Maybe I need to re-think my career plan since I'm interested in / have a background in HC and am likely going to end up at one of the MMs or boutiques.

"They are all former investment bankers that were laid off in the economic collapse that Nancy Pelosi caused. They have no marketable skills, but by God they work hard."
 

One of the reasons :) A lot of the teams are understaffed, plus you typically bank both west and east coast firms - therefore, the timezone difference just wrecks you. My take on this is that healthcare is always around, in good times and bad, so you don't really see any ridiculous increase/decrease in deal flow (so marathon year round). Better hope you only bank pharma on the east coast :p

This past year, IBD has seen a lot of DCM activity due to one of the hottest debt markets in the past decade or so, as well as refinancings and other meaningful cap markets activity. This is more meaningful for healthcare firms since many tend to refi/prepay debt on a cyclical basis.

And of course, all the traditional ibanking rules apply.

 

I am interviewing with a regional head, in Florida, who is a wealth management guy. However, because I don't really want do the whole Asset Management thing for the rest of my life I am going to do a hard sell for me doing something else within the company in either sales/trading or merchant banking, and hoping to get another interview there. Problem is that all I know about RJ is how they are sick in asset management. Their homepage and wikipage don't really offer that much insight into their other businesses (like where would I be if I went into equity capital markets as part of their energy research team? or if i was going to do IPO, M&A or recap work for them where would I be? where would you be for S&T or if there a bunch of locations for each, where would the ideal location be within the company?) Anyway, Hope that helps.

 

Ibanking recruitment has finished. The HQ as you know is in St. Pete, however, they do have other regional I-banking sites like Houston (energy), NY (M&A), and a few other select locations. However, i banking is very small practice at RJ and they took 2 analysts this year for the St. Pete office, compared to a normal class of 12.

 

I would start by looking at their website and calling a few firms they've done deals with for some out of the box due diligence. From what I know and the people that work in IB there, I would say they are similar to a Houlihan Lokey, Jefferies, or Piper, etc.

Chance favors only the prepared mind.
 

In the past couple of years, they've been ramping up their IB and hiring very selectively, like other elite BBs. They're turning out to be a solid player in the MM and were named earlier this year as MM IB of the year by Buyouts Magazine.

Chance favors only the prepared mind.
 

a friend of mine worked as a trader in their boca raton office...he got 35 base pay and potential for 100% bonus. His boss treated everyone horribly and most workers quit...Hi turnover rate in the Boca Raton office

 

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"The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they're ignorant, it's just that they know so much that isn't so." - Ronald Reagan
 

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