In my mind the top shops are Moelis LA,Goldman LA, CS LA, and JP Morgan SF. Of course ranking banks is bullshit, but as a prospective summer intern I want to know what office would give the best experience (deal flow, exit opps, people, culture, return offer rate etc.) What do you guys think?
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I find the tags on this post to be funny.
MS Menlo and GS SF. Qatalyst for M&A, and Moelis LA.
Warning: the following is my opinion, which should not be taken with less than a grain of salt: 1, MS M&A, Goldman TMT on top 2. Qatalyst, MS Menlo, GS SF (non-TMT), Moelis LA 3. MS SF, GS LA 4. MS LA (non-M&A), CS LA, UBS LA, JPM SF
All WC offices mentioned above have lean teams and more than enough deals for each analyst. From an exit opps point of view, Moelis LA placed far and away better than any other office last year (3 TPG + 1 Silver Lake from a 6-person class) although most of these offices will give you PE interviews at top WC shops. I've heard though that in the past year GS SF generalists placed better than TMT, someone correct me if I'm wrong.
Return offer rates were high last year except for UBS LA (2/6) as a result of continued downsizing.
People are generally nice and more laid back than their NY counterparts, although CS LA and MS Menlo are hardcore.
Source: close friends who worked in LA/SF past summer
Isn´t Qatalyst the top shop on the West Coast?
To quote a former MS M&A and KKR associate, GS TMT is by far and away #1 the best group for PE recruiting.
West Coast Tech Groups (Originally Posted: 10/08/2007)
After reading numerous previous threads, it appears that the top tech groups in SF/Silicon Valley are GS, CS, and MS.
However, I found little information regarding the banks after these three. What are the next best banks for tech besides these three?
Thanks in advance,
Dan
Wouldn't necessarily place CS at 3 anymore. They've come down significantly since the Quattrone days. ML, JPM, LEH, and CS are 3-6 depending on the rankings and who you ask.
don't agree with nystateofmind on cs, they still get strong share of the issuances and M&A.
Lehman and JPM probably come after, with ML bringing up the rear.
What about DB or Citi? I've heard Bear Stearns and BofA are essentially non-players.
Neither Citi or DB are real players either - Citi over DB if picking between the two. BofA, Wachovia, and BS are like you said, non-players in the Tech space.
...
Where is UBS in this ranking?
UBS is decent....probably below those mentioned in the thread, but above BofA, Wachovia, BS, Cowen, RBS, etc
when the Lehman Semi ppl moved to DB, they kicked out most of the old DB Semi team and some of those ppl moved to UBS
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First Tier: GS, MS and CS
Second Tier (in no particular order): JP Morgan, LB, UBS, ,Citi, ML
DB is much closer to BofA / BS / Cowen / Wachovia than it is to the rest of the bulge brackets in Tech.
Agree with poster above to an extent.
GS, MS and CS are undisputed leaders in tech banking. Arguably GS and MS slightly head of CS.
I have a hard time seeing JPM as a tech player though, haven't really done any marquee transactions. Perhaps you can credit them for putting together the slide that has "JPMorgan's Summit Partners team" and having a TA Associates logo on the same page. Probobly the biggest tech banking blooper of 2006.
ML is decent got the Postini transaction done with Google, but other than that are a Right bookrunner or converts shop.
Deutsche Bank is not a tech player sorry, TZL. Just because you hire an all-star roster from Lehman, doesn't make you a top tech player. I know it's tough to have a Deutsche Bank business card and feel proud.
Also as an analyst you want deal experience and based on the hype of this board exit opps: GS clearly strong advisor with ridiculous exit opps: multiple TPG, multiple Silver Lake, KKR, Vector, Top hedge funds (Perry) etc. MS: Silver Lake, Hellman (although FSG), TCV, Hedge funds, KKR, Francisco Partners CS: Golden Gate, NEA Lehman: HIG ML: World Bank, Carlyle Ventures JPM: ??? Lazard: TPG Japan Bear: Lateral to a bulge, Summit Partners DB: Lateral to a bulge, Macquarie Bank (infrastructure fund), Newspaper front cover suicide UBS: Carlyle, Weston Presidio, General Atlantic, TCW/Crescent, Canaan Partners, TA Associates, Oak Tree x2 Wachovia: Newspaper front cover suicide Thomas Weisel: Newspaper front cover suicide, Summit Partners
Looks like UBS is among the top for exit opps; people might be more complimentary of them now.
If you were to pick between Merrill Tech M&A and Credit Suisse coverage where would you pick and why?
.
Merrill Tech M&A - much better exit ops. You're not only learning a product group in M&A but you're learning coverage as well focusing on Tech. M&A's going to be easier to place into PE / VC if that's what you're looking for.
You've also got to understand ML is in Palo Alto, CS is in SF so if the city life is what you're looking for CS is clearly where you should go.
nystateofmind, you also gotta realize that CS' tech group has Tech M&A built into it. Thus you're not actually choosing between coverage at CS and M&A at Merill. You're actually choosing between the group that Quattrone built and... Merill.
Ballyho128, from my understanding CS has a Tech M&A group, separate from their coverage group.
Tech M&A and Tech Coverage are separate, like Morgan Stanley.
I'm in a generalist program in LA, but worked with an summer analyst, who didn't get an offer and has the two offers mentioned above.
Do you think the two groups impact exit opps at all?
Great commentary on the groups though, I think city living vs. outside of the city will probobly make it tough to meet people outside of work.
I think it's a big component in the decision.
Great commentary on the groups though, I think city living vs. outside of the city will probobly make it tough to meet people outside of work.
I think it's a big component in the decision.
Great commentary on the groups though, I think city living vs. outside of the city will probobly make it tough to meet people outside of work.
I think it's a big component in the decision.
West Coast opps - Interested in and open to most groups (Originally Posted: 08/17/2011)
I'm a rising junior from H/W (around a 3.85+) with strong connections at a particular BB. I personally enjoy the west coast much, much more than the east coast. However ultimately, come OCR time, I will choose whatever internship opportunity is the "best".
I'm interested in and open to most groups (product and industry), although I feel like I should go into a product group for a more technical experience.
I understand NYC has the most opportunities and will make for a "better" analyst experience, but my question to you all is which opportunities on the west coast would you take with no questions asked (GS TMT, MS Menlo, Qatalyst etc.) over an east coast offer and which opportunities on the west coast would you strongly consider over an east coast offer.
I'm just trying to gain some insight into the west coast banking environment and figure out a plan to network come this fall/winter. It's hard to know what's out there/ what reality is because I'm located on the east coast, where most friends/students stay on the east coast.
Thanks a lot.
bump
gs tmt, ms menlo, qatalyst, csla (good exit opps to PE firms on the west coast), blackstone menlo(?)
is that it? is BX menlo that good of a group anyway? should one do a summer in NY, and then try to work in menlo full time? what groups do they have there? I thought BX banking consisted only of M&A and restructuring...
Moelis?
not too sure what groups are in menlo for bx. but i do know that exit opps are very good as you can imagine. moelis la is another one to consider, although im not sure how their most recent classes have been doing. their first one had killer placements at the top PE firms.
i assume lazard has a strong office in sf as well
do not go to bx menlo...take offer somewhere else if you get a chance
lazard sf is OK. Not the best group around but you have the lazard brand name (and the hours i heard).
moelis LA is the shit, not so sure about moelis palo
in west coast, it's really just gs tmt, ms menlo, cs sf (used to be good at least, still has the brand name for recruiting), qatalyst for tech and north cali
cs la, moelis la, hlhz frg for socal
Okay thanks a lot. GS FIG/Consumer is based in LA too right? Or am I totally off base?
Also, are you guys saying that these are groups that you would strongly consider taking over a competitive NYC offer (JPM, MS, elite boutique, etc) if you want to end up on the west coast... even though the technical experience may be better in NYC (I'm assuming)?
if you want to end up on west coast yes. arguably some of those groups (gs tmt, quatalyst) over NY positions regardless
MS has an M&A team in LA that's supposed to be really solid.
ms m&a team and also barcap (headed by former cs la guy) is pretty good in LA. Send a lot kids out to good westcoast shops.
oh cool. I did not know MS's M&A team was in LA too? Also, can someone confirm that GS FIG/Consumer is based in LA as well? Just trying to see how I should network this upcoming semester. Thanks.
GS LA is FIG and Consumer. If you don't have an interview with them already, you won't have much of a shot since they only take 1-2 analysts per year.
didn't know rising juniors have interviews set up already when on campus recruiting is still many months away...
any other thoughts?
i heard from a credible source that the generalist group in GS SF placed better than TMT this year. top analysts in both groups get all the interviews they want. from what i hear GS senior culture isnt as supportive at recruiting however
blackstone menlo is a joke... both in terms of exit opps and deal flow
MS menlo get worked to the ground and not a great culture but they have good senior support and brand name when it comes to recruiting. arguably places better than GS SF (depends on the year though)
not sure why everyone on this forum drools so hard over qatalyst, they are still a step behind in placement behind GS/MS... maybe will get better with time
moelis strong exit opps and very supportive senior culture in terms of recruiting, but hours/culture are bad
JPM is also a step behind GS/MS in recruiting. have good MM opps but much harder to get the west coast megafunds
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