The groups are the same as other BB's, you got the classic industry groups like TMT, Sponsors, Industrials, FIG, Energy, Healthcare, Consumer, etc. and product groups like ECM, DCM, M&A, and LevFin.

Dealflow has been extremely good for WF lately, they are above some banks like UBS and CS on M&A, and always top 5 top 10 in U.S. for DCM/ECM because they are able to use their gigantic balance sheet, which is what I heard from a recruiter there.

 

"succeeding the most"? Fix this sentence.

it's hard to tell but I've also heard wells has had good flow all around. Stop being lazy and do a search. DCM exit ops are explained in other threads, I think rather than PE like industry groups, the most common would be hedge funds and other debt related institutions.

You can also do a search on deals, DCM is definitely a strong point of the big banks such as JPM/BAML/WF. A deal today for example would be 2 billion offering, http://www.emii.com/Articles/2370434/ExchangesandTrading/Exchanges-and-…

 

FIG, Real Estate and E&P are probably the strongest industry groups. Lev. Fin. and HG DCM are the best product groups. Equities had a strong year on the REIT recap wave, but that may not be sustainable.

M&A is good (maybe Top 7-10 in U.S.), but buyer beware because a number of groups execute/model from within the industry group and only rely on senior level M&A coverage for deal structuring/process management.

PM me for more details, but if you look closely, you'll notice something in common with the above industries. They are capital intensive and tend to feature (relatively) yieldy equities (REITs, MLPs, normalized bank/insurance yields). This is great for a franchise that has a gigantic balance sheet ($1.2T+) and a top 3 retail brokerage distribution network.

 

They have a "sell day" in march during which you meet with members of each group and they try to tell you why their group is the best and why you should join. Then the bank tries to match you based on bank need, how well each group liked you and your own preferences.

 

I disagree with banana, I think Healthcare/consumer is a very strong, same with gaming, energy, and TMT.

They do have a real estate group and are growing it, based off Eastdil which is the original foundation and legacy. For product groups WF seems to be strong on LevFin and Debt first based on their huge assets and cash , and then M&A/ECM which are also usually top 10.

All the deals I've seen seem to all be with other BB's only as joint and lead runners. You can do a search on Reuters and see all the deals they do using Wells Fargo Securities, they did a 1 bil note from Berkshire along with JPM. http://www.pr-inside.com/zacks-analyst-blog-highlights-berkshire-hathaw…

 

I believe it's the old Barrington Advisors - Los Angeles based bank that was pretty well regarded in the Middle Market. A couple of the founding members left after the acquisition to start Intrepid Advisors, another middle market focused bank in the LA area. Can't speak to PE placement but within middle market banking it should be a pretty decent shop.

 

Porter, the Real Estate IB group was merged into Eastdil earlier in 2009. However, the ECM and DCM coverage still remains within Wells Fargo Securities (I believe ECM was top 3 in U.S. REIT equity offerings this year).

I would agree with Braveheart that since 2006/2007, Wachovia/Wells has consistently uptiered its position on capital markets transactions. I think the one place they're still lacking is bookrun IPOs (yes, they have had some success, but it's definitely weaker than the rest of their capital markets products).

Also, Braveheart, just to clarify, I wasn't saying that FIG, RE and E&P were the ONLY strong groups, just that they stood out in my mind based on deal flow and overall fee contribution to the ibank. The other groups you mentioned are indeed very strong, although Energy falls within E&P. And gaming is not a standalone group as far as I know, but that silo within the Lev.Fin. group is very good.

 

The universal bank model was to use balance sheet lending to generate investment banking business. We all saw how that panned out.

I can't imagine that TMT group gets much business since they sued a major PE firm to try to welsh on their clear channel deal a few years ago.

http://articles.businessinsider.com/2008-02-25/tech/30011126_1_thomas-h…-Wachovia-tv-stations

I would think clear knows what he's talking about. It's front office investment banking, but I'd take it only if you have no other options in that space.

I am wise because I know that I know nothing -Socrates
 

OP: I'm not sure how accurate my information is and I assume Cries has a decent perspective given his location in the same office, but I've heard some decent things about the group lately. I think the group suffered some major losses from guys fleeing after the merger, but from what I've gathered they have been doing very well the past couple years and have made a lot of momentum on the M&A front. From an office standpoint, I think Charlotte is the place to be as I have heard the satellite offices, San Fran in particular, are very pitch heavy.

 

I am looking at TMT (especially Technology) outside NYC. Are there any updates on how the WF TMT group in Charlotte is doing since 2012? I could not find league table exclusively for TMT sector. How difficult is it if you are an MBA student from NYC. Thanks!

 

so gaming works within lev fin?

i'm looking for groups that are modeling intensive as I'm thinking about PE for down the road. Which group do u think would be best

 

If you're purely looking for the PE exit, go Lev.Fin. or M&A. This selection has nothing to do with Wells and has everything to do with the fact many headhunters and resume reviewers will give significant weight to candidates out of those groups because of the perceived technical skill (regardless of reality).

If you want to go industry group, then go PE, then think about TMT or Healthcare/Consumer at Wells. My experience is that FIG, Real Estate and E&P (to a lesser degree) don't have as many PE exit opps because their industry knowledge is very specialized and isn't as useful at a generalist PE shop.

There are people I know who have gone from FIG, RE and E&P to sponsors, but those groups generally have lower hit rates due to their specialization. So, do you spend 2-3 years getting grinded in a group with average deal flow just to make it to PE (and who knows what shape PE will be in at that point) or do you go to a group with better deal flow, but fewer obvious buyside exit opps.

You can be successful going both routes. It's a personal decision.

 

From someone in a lesser WF coverage group (think FIG, TMT), our LevFin group may see a lot of deals due to heavy HY origination, but you get zero modelling or actual analysis experience. So yeah, you can pad transaction experience on your resume while never understanding why anything is being done/never thinking. Maybe this appeals to some; I prefer learning.

 

Anything they do in debt is gonna pull a lot of deals: DCM, Lev fin, etc. One thing to keep in mind is that that most of the product groups are in Charlotte (M&A, Lev fin and a few others) so don't expect to do M&A NY. Industry groups I couldn't tell you.

 

I might be wrong as I heard from a friend, but their industry groups do a lot of stuff in-house so I would go for one of those. Of course, nothing beats M&A for modeling so that might be your first pick. Like others said, Wells has been doing very well picking up large deals along with other BB's recently and you may want to check out the large deals and see what groups cover them. Personally I'd go for M&A since it always seems very strong in the United States and is guaranteed to be modeling intensive.

Either way whatever group you pick you can't go wrong with a strong and growing BB like WF.

 

Know a few people in that group so I can shed a little light. The corp fin team is more project based rather than transaction based. What this means is that they get called in when there are specific issues that require more in-depth and academic analysis. This means that they see some interesting situations and have strong technical skills in subjects outside the normal course of business, but lack the full deal execution experience. I was also told they have more of a mixture of MSs and PhDs rather than MBAs.

"I know you think you understand what you thought I said but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant."
 

I do deals with this group on occasion. In general, smart guys and well respected in CRE lending. That being said, CRE lending is not rocket science. They do work will most of the big players in SF and pitch on big deals. Depending on who you ask, Wells is #1 or 2 in CRE balance sheet lending.

Interview will be mostly fit, with general (really really basic) real estate technicals. Mostly these groups want to hear why you want to be in real estate rather than what you already know about real estate.

 

From recent news, it seems the best to go for is levfin and equity. Their new hires from the other BB's are in these groups as well as public finance, but not many people here are interested in pub fin. Here's the article below

"March 24th, 2010 After the merger, Wells joined the ranks of the top 10 as it ran the books on 378 issues worth $11.2 billion in 2009, ranking ninth as senior manager, according to Thomson Reuters. To date this year it has maintained the ninth spot as it senior managed 67 issues worth $2.4 billion.

Now the goal is to expand the investment banking arm so that its footprint is comparable to the commercial business, which is one of the top two in the country, according to Smith.

“Our goal is to make our investment bank as prolific — in other words, to be as good in the investment banking space as we are in the traditional space,” he said. “To really drive the best ideas, become the trusted adviser for the customer, to really give them the best execution, we have to be good on both sides.”

The public finance division intends on hiring around 20 more people this year, Smith said. Some of the most recent hires include Nancy Feldman, who joined the northeast group as managing director of public finance investment banking earlier this month. Feldman was the head of public finance for New Jersey until late February, and before that she was a vice president of risk management and advisory at Goldman, Sachs & Co.

Before her 12 years with Goldman, Feldman did municipal credit analysis for Asch-Dwyer Municipal Securities, Standard & Poor’s, and Roosevelt & Cross Inc.

Barbara Bych, a vice president at Ambac Assurance Corp. from 1999 to 2009, also recently joined Wells as a loan team manager of commercial credit. She brings more than 20 years of experience to the job, including a role as director of public finance debt ratings for Standard & Poor’s, where she worked for 12 years.

On the West Coast, Wells recently added Mike Jones as a loan-team manager of commercial credit. Jones previously spent two years as a senior vice president in public finance at the Bank of the West. Prior to that he spent two years at Vanguard Group Inc. and five years with Bank of America.

Another four to five people, who cannot yet be named, have resigned from other firms and are joining Wells in the coming months, Smith added.

Market participants have recently indicated that one of those hires is investment banker Sonia Toledo. Her recent employer, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, confirmed last week that she had left her position as managing director, but the bank would not say under what circumstances.

Toledo’s former boss at Lehman Brothers, Ronald Stack, joined Wells last June to head up the northeast municipal group, where Toledo is likely heading, alongside Feldman.

“A lot of these investments we’re making in new hires are so that we go from the eight-nine-10 place to a top-five player,” Smith said. “We’re not keeping the top firms up at night yet, but we’re starting to get their attention.”

http://www.financial-planning.com/news/wells-wachovia-merger-2666301-1…

 

All good opinions on here. I would say that Eastdil, Energy and Lev Fin are by far the best known groups. However, if you want modeling experience and more deal exposure I would 100% go to M&A. Even though you won't be working on as big of deals as other BB banks you will still walk away with a solid understanding of financial modeling and deal structures. At the end of the day it's the experience that matters.

 
Best Response

Worked at Wells Fargo this summer, and I'll say that most of the opinions on WSO about groups are weirdly off-mark. The leveraged finance group really isn't that good-- you don't do too much technical work, you only learn esoteric debt modeling, the hours are long (although not necessarily worse than other groups), and to top it off, you don't even have especially good exit opps, since the group is only based in Charlotte. The best exit opps are definitely in Sponsors NY, probably due to senior connections + more networking opportunities. They actually have quite a few folks going off to Blackstone, Point72, and even KKR a little while back. The Industrials group has a super chill culture (both NY and Charlotte). TMT and CHG (consumer, healthcare, and gaming) are sweatshops, while M&A is simultaneously a frathouse and a sweatshop.

 

Wrong on FSG and LevFin.

I'd add that energy also needs to be included in the best groups at WF. They have been a part of some of the biggest transactions at the bank (on both the M&A and cap markets sides). Good exit ops into Energy PE.

100% agree on M&A being a sweatshop, although you are quite a bit off base on them pitching a lot. They do the least pitching of anyone at the bank and are in fact the most execution-only group (although they have a lot of deals die before completion which means they may not be closing a ton of deals but this is very different than just pitching)

"I know you think you understand what you thought I said but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant."
 

If you dont like it dont work there.....Some people would give their left nut to start at a place like Wells...The sense of entitlement I sometimes see here....

 

isnt Wells Fargo like the 4th biggest bank in US?

and number 1 in real estate (commerical and residential)

is getting a full-time analyst position at wells fargo commerical real estate hard? what kind of exit opp would this bring?

 

I don't feel like anyone (with the exception of monkeybandit and westcoast) really addressed the question asked, which was a question of groups "Lev Fin, vs. Industrials" if not mistaken... there was no sense of entitlement exhibited go4it, so I have no clue what post you were reading.

I guess it would depend on what your long term goals would be... agree with monkeybandit that Lev Fin group is solid and would have some solid exit opps given the technical nature of the work, but if you really have an interest in Industrials and want to be in NY, then that is a great option too...

People worry too much about the longer term... it's a good idea to have a sense of where you think you will be in the future, but don't forget to take into account what you like now... if you network your ass off and work like a stud then you'll be able to make what you want happen later...

 

Since the lev fin vs. industrials topic has been fairly well addressed, let's get back to the WFC credibility topic.

WFC has only recently concluded that they'll keep and grow the capital mkts/institutional clients group they inherited from Wachovia. This is a MAJOR POINT - we're basically talking about a 6 month old investment bank - it was that close to landing on the cutting room floor.

Now, looking back on the company's history, they've effectively dominated every line of business to which they've committed. While there have been and will be growing pains associated with the ramp-up, they will certainly be stealing major market share and recruiting top talent on an unprecedented scale over the next 2-3 years.

I would remind the naysayers that the man who saved GS from shutting its doors regards WFC as the best bank in the US and is one of its principle share-holders. Further, WFC's P/E is half-again that of MS and JPM, and has posted quarterly profits consistently as far back as memory serves. What do Citi and BAML's financials look like?

 

Cleary I'm new to the site, but geez, a guy can't mention p/e without getting hounded about chatting up eq performance? Bb4L, I like your comment, but using your logic: how does it constructively address ibanking exit ops &/or salary?

I would stop short of presuming to know why other people may be visiting a discussion forum. That being said, bb4l is right; my point was regarding what they could look like in, say, 5-8 years.

 

as WFC's LevFin may be one of the better groups in WFC, it won't be able to compete with other banks because of their ultra-conservative outllook on committing capital. They may be able to do some best efforts transactions, but in terms of committed financing, they don't have the huevos to man up and pull the trigger

 
thaTHRILLA:
as WFC's LevFin may be one of the better groups in WFC, it won't be able to compete with other banks because of their ultra-conservative outllook on committing capital. They may be able to do some best efforts transactions, but in terms of committed financing, they don't have the huevos to man up and pull the trigger

This is hilarious....since only some one with industry experience would make such a definitive statement please post the book runners on the last 100 issuances in the leverage loan space and the lastest YTD league tables. This should only take ~5 min to pull from your database. However, I highly doubt you access to these resources because if you did, it would become quickly apparent that you are talking out of your ass.

 
tarheel11:

Which WF group is "stronger"? LevFin in Charlotte or Industrials in New York

Personally, I would rather be in New York. Better networking opportunitites and I think New York, New York on your resume goes a long way in the finance world.

 
SuitUp7:
tarheel11:

Which WF group is "stronger"? LevFin in Charlotte or Industrials in New York

Personally, I would rather be in New York. Better networking opportunitites and I think New York, New York on your resume goes a long way in the finance world.

Yeah, LevFin in Charlotte is kinda weird - I know someone from there who stated how it's basically the same and but nightlife sucks, too hot, etc.

 

I was about to post and then realized you are an associate. GT, very nice.

I would say just pick mostly off the people you met and who you want to work with. I'm not too familiar with deal flow over there but according to the league tables they are killing it, maybe also consider their debt/high yield and equity as they are top 5 top 10 in those. I would think Consumer/health is very good as they closed HCA for 16 something billion.

 

Yes, I posted on 11/13.

We were among the first schools to interview. The offer acceptance deadlines were fairly short, which leads me to believe they're phasing their offers.

I love the platform and their growth opportunities.

 

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

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

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