Top Financial Sponsors Groups?
IB
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(Senior Baboon, 231
Points)
on 12/8/11 at 3:21pm
Team Oasis -
Question. Which firms have the best stand-alone financial sponsor groups that are not necessarily part of a leveraged finance group? Background details would be very helpful as well. I am sure the usual suspects, GS, MS, JPM, etc come up but I am looking for the extra level of detail, i.e. someone who worked there or know someone who works there.





GS sponsors wasn't all that
GS sponsors wasn't all that awesome the last I heard. I got the impression they were pitch heavy - model light. I think this has improved, but it is still far from their best grup.
I would say CS sponsors has been pretty dominant historically, but I don't know how they hve been the last couple of years.
MS sponors is good, but again, not their best group.
JPM has one of the best on the street, but SLF is more modelling intensive according to my memory.
Not in sponsors, so I am just going off of second hand info. It's a hard sector to evaluate just because deal flow has slowed so much.
West Coastin' yeah thanks for
West Coastin' yeah thanks for the info. Thats definitely the general assumptions on the board. JPM SLF is great because of their Lev.Fin (which are combined I believe). CS is definitely known for their sponsors team from a historical perspective. I am thinking less modelling and more relationships and dealflow. No desire to go to PE.
Citi's was historically very
Citi's was historically very strong, but their strength was due, at least in part, to pitching access to leverage. Not sure how they've fared recently.
Interned at a BB FSG last
Interned at a BB FSG last summer. I heard BofA FSG and JPM FSG thrown around alot as "top."
CS Sponsors is probably still
CS Sponsors is probably still the highest-regarded sponsors group, and a top group on Wall Street in general.
GS FSG is decent but not top-notch, in part because sponsors sometimes view GS as a competitor due to PIA.
At MS, FSG is probably the second-most sought after group among incoming analysts after M&A.
The sponsors groups at BAML, Citi, and JPM seem good, but I can't speak from personal experience.
I recognize the OP is probably a first-year analyst by now, but in general if someone is not interested in working in PE, I wouldn't recommend a sponsors group as his/her top choice. You'll get a better and broader experience in a good industry coverage group that does its own M&A (e.g., any of the GS coverage groups, MS CMG, etc.), or in an outright M&A group or boutique.
BAML and CS are still
BAML and CS are still definitely the best in the US. JP does very well but I heard the modeling is done out of SLF.
US Loan Syndications - Sponsor Backed - Bookrunner - FY 2011
($ in Millions)
Rank Bank Volume No. of Deals MarketShare
1 Bank of America Merrill Lynch $42,091 196 14%
2 Credit Suisse 35,375 94 12%
3 JP Morgan 26,221 99 9%
4 Barclays Bank Plc 25,805 92 9%
5 Wells Fargo & Company 21,185 137 7%
6 Citi 19,382 50 7%
7 Deutsche Bank 19,272 73 7%
8 Goldman Sachs & Company 16,787 43 6%
9 Morgan Stanley 13,261 35 5%
10 General Electric Capital Corporation13,197 155 5%
11 RBC Capital Markets 9,013 41 3%
12 UBS AG 6,717 32 2%
Source: Thomson Reuters
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