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i would do Evercore on this one. It pays more and really offers you better experience when you move up.
What do you mean by "better experience when you move up?" I have a general idea what you're getting at, but am curious about your specific thoughts.
Your choice is really between Citi M&A and Evercore. Citi M&A is serious business and so is Evercore. You should decide whether you want boutique or big bang culture. I would personally take Citi M&A but you can't go wrong with Evercore either.
Personally I'd choose Citi M&A...
since associate considerations are different from analyst considerations (PE/HF exit opps become basically a non-issue vs. being a critical issue for analysts) I'm not sure how accurate the advice will be on here
Yeah, I'm not sure how the long-term career baths in boutique v. bulge bracket differs since information about boutiques is harder to find. I appreciate the viewpoints.
BAML and Citi are both turds in the punch bowl. Evercore is a hitter. No real contest here. Call back Rodger and tell him you are thrilled to have been offered one of the nine spots that they handed out this year.
Citi and BAML have both gone back to the top b-schools with third round offers because their yields were so low. If you really have an Evercore offer, thank your lucky stars and pull the trigger.
I almost feel that this is a stupid question.
In new york I would definitely take Evercore (speaking as a fellow soon-to-be summer associate)
Did my analyst stint at BB and dont regret it for a second, but if I was doing associate role then I would definitely take Evercore, as EB do get best exit opps in the current market IMO.
It is harder significantly for associate to move to the buyside though. Just keep that in mind. Heard citi m&a culture is absolutely toxic also.
Check the dates, that guy is probably dead by now
I've seen both platforms.
If banking is for a couple years, then Evercore. Your level of responsibility and access to senior people is greater at the outset.
If banking is a career move, Citi or BAML, no question. You will see bigger, more complicated and more important deals. You will develop into a better rounded banker, and you will be more relevant to your clients faster.
Between Citi or BAML M&A, both are great firms, probably a little weaker now that Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs but the difference isn't as great as one would be lead to believe. Right now, I'd say BAML is ahead in the U.S. and Citi is ahead in emerging markets and Asia. Both are rebuilding Europe so its country specific.
Thanks for the insight VV. The long-term career path differences is the issue I'm wrestling with the most since some say a boutique is better whereas others say a BB is better but I'm not sure how they differ since different people have been telling me different things (one of the few things that is clear is that at a boutique you tend to get paid really well, but I assume the M&A guys at a BB get paid well too).
If its long-term career path you are after, BB is absolutely the way to go. The opportunities to build a strong client base or product skill is much greater.
I see many VP / director level people at boutique firms begin to hit a wall, and become "execution bitches" for the senior partners and stop developing themselves. Look on the Evercore website and see how many SMDs internally developed relative to being hired out of the BB firms.
The advantages to the boutique are less bureaucracy at the associate level. That said, you will see more and bigger deals at the BB, just as part of a bigger deal team.
Comp is better at the boutique at the associate (and to a degree at the VP level). Generally, BB M&A guys will do better after that unless you are a major rainmaker, in which case, a boutique qill pay you better. There are very few of these people though.
Citi M&A > evercore > baml M&A
Evercore
Based on some of the responses here, I suspect many people don't actually work in the industry and are acting on hearsay etc.
How did you ever figure that out? Quite the investigative/critical thinking skills bro...you should become a consultant.
Thanks for the feedback everyone. I'm grateful that I found this website and will be sure to contribute in the future (under new user login). I hope that this board will be entertaining during the summer! The eternal elite boutique v. BB debate will not die anytime soon!
Let us know what you end up choosing/your rationale, would be interesting to hear and pretty harmless if you're going to change usernames anyway.
In the end, the choice came down to Evercore and Citi M&A because I liked the guys at those banks the most and their M&A practices is stronger than BAML historically. After a lot of back-and-forth, I ended up choosing Citi. There were a lot of factors weighing in Evercore's favor but the considerations below tipped the scale to Citi (not in any particular order):
If I decide to re-interview with Evercore this fall, I think I will have a solid shot assuming I don't get smacked up at Citi. The firms with lower full-time offer rates (e.g., Goldman, Evercore, etc.) pretty much always come back during the fall for full-time recruiting.
Optionality. If I don't like Citi, I can re-interview with Evercore and do M&A. If I went to Evercore and didn't like it, getting placed into Citi M&A as a full-time recruit will likely be very difficult. Even getting into Citi M&A as a summer associate is very hard since there are only a handful of spots available and a large portion of the summers associates have put M&A as their #1 choice.
Alumni Support During the Summer. My school has several alumni higher up in the command chain at Citi and I've gotten to know them and some other senior people pretty well during the recruiting process. In any work environment, you can't avoid politics so it will be nice to have some advocates built into the power structure. I presume I would have been able to build this up at Evercore over time (I could tell that their junior and senior bankers are very supportive) but if getting a summer offer is my primary concern at this stage in my career, I figure having a few well-positioned advocates will be valuable. The summer internship is only 10 weeks long, so I gotta make sure that those 10 weeks count.
I want to try out working at a BB to see what it's like. People typically move from big to small, so I figure I would do the same. Summer is a good time to experiment.
Personal reasons. These reasons are probably the most important to my decision-making, but I figure I would type the above since they are more applicable to the average WSO reader.
Thanks for the explanation. People ask here about offer decision advice but don't follow up nearly enough - it's really interesting to hear exactly what went through your head when coming to a final decision.
I'm sure the recruiter at EVR never goes online and reads shit like this...wonder if she can put this post together with who you are? lol
She probably can, but it's not like I said anything shocking or controversial. I like Evercore a lot and was almost sure I was going to go to them for most of the last month, but then decided at the last minute that I would try Citi out for the summer and see how it goes. I literally changed my mind one morning then thought about my decision for a day, during which time I ran the issue by friends in banking and some ex-bankers---most of whom said that I couldn't go wrong either way. The summer internship is just the first step. I'll have the chance to revisit the decision over the summer and when fall recruiting rolls around.
Dude, Evercore had way more than 4 summer associates last year (unless that was only from your school) and gave out way more than 2 fulltime offers - everyone at my school got return offer and is going back
Also, if you are waiting around until March to sign your offers - you've definitely pissed off every bank/alumni that recruited you considering most people sign by end of January
unless of course this is a fabricated situation...
Unless the poster was posting in march of 2011.
^Not like it matters. He didnt trash the bank or the people at all and it was written very respectably. He explained why he chose A over B and his logic.
Congrats, I hope you made the right choice.
BAML M&A or Citi M&A (SA NYC) (Originally Posted: 02/02/2014)
The title pretty much says it all. SA offers for both firm's M&A group.
Looking at this it sounds like an incredibly difficult choice to make:
BAML: 1B in M&A fee with 15% Y2Y growth Citi: 769M in M&A fee with 20% Y2Y growth
I'm sure I will have roughly the same experience at both firms, but I'm really not sure which to choose. I clicked with baml people very well, but I've networked much more at Citi. Can you guys help me out with this choice?
Agree completely - obviously anonymity is great and arguably necessary to have a place like WSO exist, but it wouldn't be nearly as big of a deal if people didn't post as though they were borderline-illiterate 8 year olds arguing over whose turn it is to have to sit in the middle seat on the way back from soccer practice.
I know two of last year's interns at Citi m&a. They said it was a good experience and analysts have good placement.
Head of Citi M&A is based off the Chicago office, and their M&A group there is likely stronger. If this is New York, I'd suggest you go with BAML, all else equal.
Yup, this is in New York. I don't know guys — this is really tough. Can't honestly go terribly wrong with either..
Exactly. I'd lean towards BAML if a lot of Citi's M&A really does come out of Chicago, but even then, I'd only take it if I liked the people there as much as the people at Citi. Really should come down to fit, as kidflash said. And truthfully, they're likely very similar even in terms of fit, so it really shouldn't matter which you choose.
both are top groups at their respective banks. go for the one where you liked the people more.
They're not the best BBs there are, but as SPG said, you can't really go wrong with either choices. I guess it all depends on who you want to work with. Talk to M&A groups associates and analysts, since they're the ones who will boss you around for couple years. Congrats!
Citi M&A is done out of NY. Ignore this Chicago BS.
Hey guys, just wanted to follow up — I decided to go with BAML over MS Menlo, Citi, etc. Thanks a lot!
How does WF M&A stack up against these groups? They did over 45 billion dollars in M&A deals last year!
Why do you keep asking about WF M&A in posts that have nothing to do with WF M&A?
To answer your question - I do not believe anyone from Citi or BAML M&A considers WF a M&A competitor
Perhaps WF has M&A expertise in certain niche industries, but WF is not regarded as a M&A bank
You can post 100+ more threads on this, but will not change the answer
The Head of North America M&A sits in Chicago, not the global head. And definitely M&A activity is mostly executed in NY vs other offices.
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