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Location?
Tough call. Barcap and Citi treat their bankers a bit better than UBS going off of what I read in the papers, although being in S&T, I am not a total expert.
All things considered, these banks aren't all that much different. They all have a lot of strengths (generally smart and accomplished people, big clients, large balance sheets) and they all have similar impairments (the long-term secular trend towards a smaller financial industry, including regulatory controls, general deleveraging, declining GINIs, and investor distrust).
The real question for you is how smart the people were whom you interviewed with and how much you want to work with them. Early in your career, people count for a whole lot more NPV than prestige or money. You want to work for people whom you'll get along with (especially if you're working 100 hours/week) and have a lot of connections on the street.
The one other thing you may want to consider- if you plan on staying in industry long-term- is the regulatory environment you'll be operating in, and the fact that you may be subject to more than just one regulatory regime if you work in one country but the bank is HQ'd in another.
Pm'ed you.
leeteasy it's NYC office
Okay, can't really say anything about it. From a personal point of view I would definitely go for culture what is a subjective thing
You should be looking at what types of bonuses these banks are paying out to Associates. Check Dealbreaker to get the info on what these banks are paying out.
Heading to BarCap this summer. I don't know too much about their LevFin group, but I do believe it's rolled into their GCM group (I may be entirely wrong). I don't believe, however, that their LevFin practice is as strong as it should be. If you're ONLY looking at LevFin, you may want to consider Citi.
Actually for LevFin I'd take UBS. Traditionally regarded as one of UBS' top groups. I read elsewhere on here that Citi LevFin is strictly execution, so more of a capital markets group as the above poster said about BarCap. I know for a fact UBS LevFin handles origination, structuring, and execution, so lots of modeling/technical work if that's what you are in to. Seems to be pretty consistently busy deal flow-wise too.
Levfin UBS for sure, agree with above
Definitely Barclays. All three firms are in the same 'prestige' tier, but only Barclays has positive momentum. They have shouldered the initial financing for some very large deals (Kinder Morgan / El Paso, for example), showing a willingness to use their balance sheet to get deals done. They're moving up the league tables while the other two are moving down. Barclays all the way.
That's an energy deal though and Barclays NatRes has been the best around for a long time (dating back to Lehman). I would be careful in using that to extrapolate the prospects for the entire firm. Would have been run out of Houston as well.
That's not to say they weren't on other impressive deals in 2011. I think they were on the Del Monte buyout for example. But the NatRes group is just a whole different beast from the other coverage groups there.
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