Activism Defense/Shareholder advisory comp/lifestyle, hours/culture/on the job

Almost all the threads on Activism Defense/Shareholder advisory revolved around exit opps and prestige. 

Does no one do a job within IB because they are interested in the role anymore? 

I wanted to find out if anyone has any experience in the space and what your day to day looks like in terms of hours and the typical culture. 

I am currently in banking but can definitely see myself in the Activist Defense/Shareholder advisory space for the next 25 years so I am generally curious as to what to expect if I am able to make the job at this level.

I know there is zero modeling and the work is much more qualitative hence exit opps are of zero priority for me, so my questions revolve around:

1. What are your typical hours

2. What is the comp progression 

3. Do you regularly or never work weekends and pull all nighters. 

4. Whats the general culture like? is it fratty or nerdy, conservative or full of liberals (no reason why i am asking i am just curious)

5. How does the work change from a junior to a senior level.

15 Comments
 
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Got a friend that’s an associate in the group at my BB. Here’s what I know. Overall seems like a pretty solid gig if you want to be in it long term but like you mentioned hard to pivot to PE/HF and even other traditional coverage/product groups.

  1. Hours typical of any IB role: 9:30-1AM M-Th, with your occasional very late Friday, weekend work generally limited to Sunday unless on a live “deal”
  1. Same base as other coverage/M&A. Not sure on bonus but imagine comparable
  1. See above, definitely some weekend work like any IB role
  1. A bit sweaty from what I can tell, always cranking out deliverables in terms of pitch materials for defense mandates, investor profiles, etc.
  1. Like any group, associates put together materials and review analyst work, VP review associate work and begin building client relationship, Ds manage client attempt to bring in some business, MDs bring in clients and sign the engagement letters/go to conferences/advise boards and C-suit management teams
 
[Comment removed by mod team]
 

Would just add on to the thread, the challenge in finding a lot of information about these groups is partly due to not a lot of roles available in groups like this. Bulge Brackets may have specialized groups with small headcounts but at smaller banks this may just be another area advised on by core investment banking. Reality is the fee pool for this type of business is much smaller than many other products.

 

Agree with this. I’m at a BB and have worked with our Defence team. Some of the mandates have low fees or no fee at all in some cases. The juice really comes from negotiating a tail on future business for a period of time (M&A, financings, etc).

 

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