2021 Investment Bank Rankings for Exit Opps
Hey all, usually hate these posts but after seeing some questionable rankings, I decided to put my honest thoughts on a ranking of investment banks based on what I observed from buy-side placement across the street from 2016-2021. I am NOT claiming these are completely objective and undisputed rankings, but these are just from my observations throughout my time in IB and at an UMM PE fund.
Ranking
Tier 1b: GS, MS, Moelis, Lazard, JPM
Tier 2: BofA, Citi, Barclays, CS, PWP
Tier 3a: Guggenheim, Jefferies, Greenhill
Tier 4: William Blair, Rothschild, HL, RBC, HW, Baird
Tier 5: WF, Piper, PJ Solomon
Tier 6: Cowen, RJ, Lincoln, BMO
Tier 7: Stifel, Macquarie, Nomura, Leerink, Mizuho
Notes
-Ultimately Tiers 1a/1b have extremely similar exit opps but I definitely noticed (for NY PE recruiting) Tier 1a alumni did better regardless of which office they came from (as in Tier 1a placements were definitely much more diverse and balanced in terms of group/office compared to 1b)
-Tiers 3a/3b started off around the same tier but over the past few years that there's been a clear trend of 3a firms pulling away from 3b firms for NY buy-side placement. The difference and trend is large enough to warrant a 3a/3b, but not enough to be a completely separate tier.
CVP over GS? Really?
pwp in 1b
No doubt PWP is a great firm and their analysts place well, but PWP has been a rapidly growing firm and from my observations their placements reflect that. My list comes from observing placements across the street over several years, and IMO if you look at average placements across my timeframe PWP is still below T1 firms, even though their placements in 2020 were easily among T1b.
If you just look at recent history and placements, I'd definitely put PWP among 1b. However, keep in mind that in general independent advisory firms and fast-growing firms tend to be quite volatile, and it'd be a mistake to assume that a firm's current trend and it's current PE placement will hold down the line. Just throughout my time from college recruiting till now I've seen Greenhill's placements swing up and down, matching the firm's general volatility. I think all the 1b firms have shown a clear consistency over a longer period of time in terms of placements than PWP, and that warrants their position above PWP.
Greenhill not that high. Jeffries not that high. Also, PWP on average placed way better into MFs this year and is dominating recently. Pls fix
I honestly think OP's assessment of Greenhill and Jefferies is pretty on point. Greenhill is pretty small so their per-capita placement into UMMs is pretty good and they also have a HW-esque culture where there's sort of an implicit "2 or 3 and out" culture where management encourages analysts to recruit for buy-side. I've also noticed that Jefferies punches above their weight for placement, probably because Jefferies is such a grind and the analysts get their reps and deal experience so they're pretty well-prepared for buy-side recruiting.
Lol disrespect to pwp
PWP had better placement than Lazard this year
PWP 10000% belongs in tier 1b
This ranking is fine except for PWP. They’ve been absolutely killing it since being more receptive to exiting
Perella should definitely be in 1b. Look at their recent exits from this yr:
2 Carlyle, EQT, Brookfield, Oaktree (SS), Bx , Centerbridge, Crestview, GTCR, 2 top HFs, Platinum Equity, KPS, KKR, Softbank, General Atlantic, Apollo, Ares, Madison Dearborn
Analyst class size ~ 21-22
They’ve been consistently placing into MF/UMM for the last 3-4 years. So much misinfo on this forum.
Folks love hating on PWP for some reason. As someone who didn't work there but had 2-3 friends there, anecdotally they are a fantastic shop to be at as an analyst. Supportive on buyside recruiting and seemingly good transaction exposure though again, all anecdotal.
Do you ever feel like knowing this exact information is super fucking lame?
lol no point in making these threads if the PWP goon squad is just going to take over and hype the firm up to infinity
I get that PWP has had a nice last 18 months but the PWP circle jerk on this forum has gotten out of hand.
Not to suck PWP’s nuts more, but it is just flat out wrong to have them in that tier given their recent exits lol. My friend there exited to MF
BAML and CS are a rung above the other mid BBs based on PE exits. And their top groups are on par with GS/MS
Barclays has better exits than both.
Do you have any data to back this up? The recent Opus thread contradicts this comment completely. Funnily, once again the Barclays weebs strike to not feel too terrible about the shitty brand on their LinkedIn profile.
I’m mind blown this idiotic statement has 11 SBs
we can all agree citi has the worst corporate pe exits of the 4 lol
Like others said, PWP in Tier 1b, but also GS/MS to 1a, Gugg/GHL to 2, and Jeff/UBS/DB in the same tier (3)
Gugg/GHL are no where near mid BBs, and PWP is certainly not ahead. Boutiques are so overrated on this thread. This should be the general order.
1: GS, MS, EVR, JPM, CVP, PJT
2: BAML, BARC, LAZ, MoCo, Citi, CS, PWP
......................................................................
3: JEFF, GUGG, UBS, GHL
4. RBC, DB, WF, Roth, PJ Solomon, HL etc.
This guy said CVP has better exits than Goldman Sachs lol
They do.