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From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship
“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”
Based on the most helpful WSO content, JPMorgan's Mid-Cap Financial Sponsors Group (FSG) operates differently from the Large-Cap FSG team primarily in terms of the size of the clients and deals they handle. Here are some key points:
Work Differences:
Compensation:
Hours and Workload:
If you're considering a role in JPM's Mid-Cap FSG, it could offer a more balanced work-life dynamic while still providing solid exposure to financial sponsors and deal-making.
Sources: Life In The Financial Sponsors Group, Accept mid-tier BB Offer or continue recruiting?, https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/private-equity/then-and-now-compbanker?customgpt=1, JP Morgan Exit Opps to Private Equity?
Bump
Bump
Just as an industry player who spent time in MM Sponsors / M&A business, it seems like JPM is pushing into the $500mm to $2bn sell side M&A world. When I was more in it at Moelis & HL it was basically like only the boutiques and MM firms who competed for the business. Clients didn’t even have a chance to consider JPM because JPM wouldn’t bid on the business because they didn’t have resources worth their while to run a $500mm sell side deal for a $5mm fee.
Now it looks like JPM wants to push into this space and compete with those said banks. They think the JPM name can carry weight and if they can staff it well enough by hiring bankers who are cool with working in those deal sizes then it would seem to be a profitable line of business for JPM to keep growing its IB.
That said I recall hearing then HL head of Corp Fin and now CEO Scott Adelson saying in 2019 that he has seen the BBs try to go down market from time to time during his career and HL and its competitors have generally won out. I think I even remember Ken Moelis saying in 2016 something along the lines of “no one at GS who does these MM deals is going to be respected as in the path to CEO there”. So maybe things have changed now at the BBs but time will tell.
My own take is yes, JPM can win this business but it may be more for the commercial bankers to try to pivot into IB as opposed to the hotshot HBS or MBAs or aspiring mega cap IB bankers to take a happy step back and work on smaller deals.
work and comp wise I would figure it’s more like working at a MM IB like Houlihan or Piper or Lincoln. I have worked on both MM and mega cap deals. MM deals can be more “cookie cutter” in terms of cranking out a model, coaching management, building a CIM, running an auction etc. mega cap deals involve more politics, strategy, lots of other advisors like teams of lawyers, accountants, different corporate divisional heads getting involved. Regulatory concerns too. Yes there is modeling and all that involved but other factors may play a bigger deal as those mega cap deals can be assessed on a decades timeline as opposed to MM M&A where the sponsor just wants to put together a solid 5 year plan of how to double EBITDA and then sell to a bigger sponsor or find a public corporate to tuck it into.
Curious other takes as well.
Really appreciate this in-depth response.
Re: your last point, find it interesting that you specifically mentioned MM sponsors and selling to larger sponsors. Curious to hear if MM sponsor exits have a particular “flavor”? That is to say, do you see a majority of these exits being specifically sales to larger sponsors, or sales to strategics, etc?
Thank you!
Thanks. You’re welcome. From what I have personally seen and in the rooms I was in for the deals I was a part of, JAMMBOs generally aspire to build something big enough to sell to a public strategic/corporate. Those guys are seen as having the ability to pay top dollar for synergy or strategic value like growing in a key market/product. Generally JAMMBO portcos from what I have seen don’t get big enough to IPO and be public platforms themselves. That’s moreso seen in MFPE where a BX or a CD&R can take a portfolio company public. Or Apollo or Carlyle or KKR or the bunch.
If the JAMMBO can’t get it to a strategic then generally the playbook was a bigger sponsor like a UMM/MF. With the latest turmoil maybe that means a CV instead or something or just worst case selling the business for parts / taking out dividends to try to return capital.
GOOOOOOOD LUCK
Interesting. My experience is reversed. My MM deals were much more convoluted and difficult than my large cap deals. For large cap, you just rip all you need from the 10-k and call it a day. Yeah, you play the game a little but the brand names and info out there do all the leg work for you. MM deals you really have to dig into. There’s very little info and what you do have is messy as shit. You have to polish and manage the client very tightly. You handhold them on everything. You really have to slap lipstick on the pig and sell the company.
Idk just my experience.
Funny. Maybe it’s just because I spent my career at Moelis and HL and haven’t worked formally for a BB, to me MM M&A is pretty cut and paste at this point lol. I hear you on the need to handhold management and all that and it’s like teaching finance 101 but maybe it’s just a skillset I have developed from my time at those more “elite” or brand name MM shops.
To me the hardest part of MM M&A is originating deals, hence why I’m making a living in asset management right now as opposed to still in MM M&A at least for now.
But yea it really is selling the company. Like also doubling as the SS ER analyst since these are small privates without research coverage. Have to do all the DD yourself. Kick the tires. Learn the market. vet the team and also have Mm sponsor relationships with Mm accountants and lawyers. Different skillset I suppose.
Cheers
We barely have an FSG team, now we have an FSG MidCap team?
Jokes aside, if any BB can break-in to middle market in a meaningful way, its JPM, who has the connectivity at the retail and commercial banking side. That said, the FSG-specific side of middle market is ED/MD la la land. Its all networking coverage and there's very very little use (and therefore upward mobility) for analysts and associates. SIG =/= FSG by the way.
Thanks for the insight! I understand that there is SIG, LargeCap FSG, and MidCap FSG(?)—was curious to hear more about the differences between the two besides sponsor sizes? Hours seem in-line with traditional IB FSG teams at 60-80
From speaking with team members it sounds to me like it’s very deal execution focused (mostly arranging financing for LBOs). Seems like half the analyst role is running the financing analyses/debt model and the other half traditional sell-side work for sponsors (buyers/seller lists and the such, but imagine any sale that goes live will get picked up by Mid-Cap M&A). I guess a better way to phrase my question is: is this basically just a less complex version of what LargeCap FSG analysts do? With that, what is the difference then between SIG and LargeCap FSG? Having trouble finding much online.Thank you—let me know if I’m misunderstanding anything.
Was an intern in JPM’s C&SI program (commercial banking) last summer that tried to get a FT offer in Mid Cal FSG
To my understanding, MC FSG has two divisions - Origination and Business Development. Origination is the team that hold the pen to the model but don’t have any client interaction. Business Development is more client facing, with a focus on building sponsor relationships.
To speak on the analyst role, from my conversations, I understand that analysts do not get much involved ain’t the sell-side work and mainly focus on the LBO modeling for the sponsor. Whenever it’ll be a sellside, the Midcap IBD would take over. Essentially, FSG is the unique team (including syndications or SFG) in the commercial banking that touches both IBD products and commercial banking but the bank has them muted on deeper IBD processes if that makes sense. JPM’s overall strategy is to have the commercial bank be in a way the deal pipeline for its midcap IBD practice, and they’ve made the FSG group the middle man between the two.
On a separate note, the recent small cap and mid cap push has made JPM offer MD pay lower than the established MMs and boutiques in the space - heard this from another MD so take with a grain of salt.
For analysts/associates it is standard ibd base with 30-70% bonus range depending on deal flow and market conditions
Unknown for VP and up
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