Barclays vs Rothschild (London)

Which IBD summer offer to take (converted springs) and why?

Don't know teams yet as team allocations will only be done next year (after all summer spots are filled through recruiting).

For London of course.

24 Comments
 

Associate 2 in IB - Cov

Rothschild.. not even sure why you are asking esp given it's in London.

Why ?

Good deal flow esp for large deals, huge prestige for exits

Barclays is basically a financing institution at this point, but show it as buyside creds. When was the last Barclays was an exclusive advisor on proper large sell side in Europe, lol

Barclays IB is dead. Long live Barclays IB

I thought R&Co focused more on the mid-market than large deals...?

 

Primary focus tend to be MM, however they are also present in the larger one (mostly in a co-advisory capacity) Kinda like Allen & Co in the US. Check the deals db

It's bit of a perception game when it comes to choosing Banks - Barclays, like credit suisse a few years back, is making a string of stupid errors (SEC fine for over issuance, trading error, poor strategy, distracted CEO are some points) and generally perceived currently as a weak bank, jesus, look at their PB ratio. Rest assured, they are not going bankrupt anytime soon…but the sheen is definitely off..

have been burnt by CS to not let others do the same mistakes ..

 

It's a great dilemma to have - congrats! 

Either choice will be a good one. R&Co focuses more on the mid-market, though is a sellside powerhouse within that, and in Europe. As another poster commented, Consumer / Healthcare are the places to be.

Barclays is still regarded as a BB, whether or not recent dealflow has been slower. Aside from potentially focusing on larger transactions, you might also want to consider that it's a full-service bank, which R&Co isn't - if you're interested in working in leveraged finance, ECM, etc., choose Barclays. It's a more global bank too with a much better US footprint, if you're interested in rotating geographically.

 

Count WACCula

It's a great dilemma to have - congrats! 

Either choice will be a good one. R&Co focuses more on the mid-market, though is a sellside powerhouse within that, and in Europe. As another poster commented, Consumer / Healthcare are the places to be.

Barclays is still regarded as a BB, whether or not recent dealflow has been slower. Aside from potentially focusing on larger transactions, you might also want to consider that it's a full-service bank, which R&Co isn't - if you're interested in working in leveraged finance, ECM, etc., choose Barclays. It's a more global bank too with a much better US footprint, if you're interested in rotating geographically.

What about other teams at R&Co, e.g. Industrials (& also TMT, Energy & Power)?

 

I'm less familiar with them candidly (I don't work there, to be clear).

But R&Co's Consumer and HC teams are well-known across the street to be leading teams, whereas the others aren't. That's not to say that their other industry coverage teams are bad, but just not the standout teams that Consumer and HC are. I wouldn't base your decision on this - R&Co TMT would not be a bad internship outcome!

 

Depends on what type of transactions you want to be doing. As an earlier poster said, Rothschild is a MM-focused powerhouse while Barclays focuses on larger transactions. Just take a look at the Dealogic league tables for Europe YTD

Barclays has an average deal value of $2.4bn while Rothschild has an average deal value of $270m. I think Rothschild gives a super good learning experience. I know a lot of people at Rothschild and the work that an associate would do at a BB, you get to do as an analyst at Rothschild. I know people who closed 10+ transactions during their analyst stint at Rothschild while I know people at BBs that closed 1-2 deals during their analyst stint. I've heard good things about culture at Barclays but I think it's overall reputation is a notch below Rothschild in Europe and doesn't feel like a place with an upward trajectory. 

 

Analyst 3+ in AM - FI

To those recommending Rothschild - are we living on the same planet? Barclays has higher deal flow and higher avg. transaction size in Europe - and they're an absolute powerhouse in UK M&A. 

Higher deal flow, no. Average deal size, yes but unsure whether it's artificial through offering financing/co-advisory.

 

For what it’s worth I know Barclays didn’t give out the most return offers last year - may make sense to see how many each firm converts this year since there’s not much between the two

 

Associate 1 in IB - Gen

At Barclays you can survive many years

Rothschild has a toxic culture so you may not survive more than 1 year there

It's as simple as that

Rippp. What's toxic about it?

 

pipole4

That's probably right. Rothschild is not famous for average analyst tenure.

However you'll place better after 1 year at rothschild than 2-3 at barclays - on average. Not guaranteed, but the name + deal flow works out well for the people there.

Barclays is a bit less sweaty. It's just a completely different proposition.

I thought it's said that "Rothschild is a good place to be a long term banker"...?

 

Consider that Roths returns are notoriously tough.

if it were me and knew I wanted buyside, Roths no question. Roths places lights out to buy side.

 

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