Barclays vs. UBS for Leveraged Finance
This is for an Associate position.
Which group has more structuring/modeling exposure? Better exit ops? Culture? Deal flow?
Thanks in advance.
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In all honesty I'd be dubious about touching either bank with a barge pole currently. However, offers are offers and any job is fantastic in this market, especially LevFin. The things to consider for each bank are:
Would note that at Barclays, Leveraged Finance is considered a Capital Markets function (meaning you'll prob. have a larger mix of markets-related work / debt comps / etc.) and that at UBS Leveraged Finance is an arm of IBD (with Leveraged Capital Markets being a separate entity that takes the lead on a lot of the non-modeling, markets-focused work).
Would also note that Barclays Leveraged Finance is not Lehman Leveraged Finance. Some guys still left but the guy that used to head Lehman Leveraged Finance is the head of UBS Leveraged Finance now.
Both have OK placement for buyside opps. (re: not as good as GS / MS / BX and probably very slightly below LAZ, EVR, JPM, etc.)
GS/MS/BX have good placement out of levfin? That's kind of surprising, considering they don't have big enough balance sheets to generate a lot of deal flow. Or could it be that another WSO poster is talking out of his ass?
barcap lev fin is very weak for exit opps, don't really do any modeling.
UBS
Pretty bad morale at UBS right now group aside, not a place I would want to be. Know a few guys that got laid off this past fall and others there trying to jump ship.
Have a friend at UBS lev fin. They do all of the modeling and take on most of the committee process. Sounds like good experience. Not sure about Barcap.
Nobody on the street respects UBS.
Nuff said.
question. not that it affects me personally, but how is UBS looked at outside of the US? were the cuts mainly just in the US in terms of employment or globally? just curious, thanks!
This.
Sure it sounds stupid to make a decision based on "respect" on the street, but that's how headhunters make decisions regarding who gets which interviews. Case in point: BX M&A sucks performance-wise but is well respected regardless and thus gets top notch opps. Obviously a very different situation with Barcap vs UBS but similar idea, Barcap is at least recognized as a solid BB, UBS seems to be a sunken ship that has slipped into the MM realm of banking (not to say that that's bad, just a huge drop from where they were just a few years ago)
Recently read an ER (BB) analyst note on UBS stating they are severely downsizing capital-intensive groups (read: DCM/LevFin in addition to FI) and look to focus on wealth management with some M&A and cash equity capacity. Capital markets products do not look healthy at UBS.
they are cutting ig dcm but committed to levfin which happens to be one of their more profitable groups (despite being capital intensive). if you go to their direct earnings presentation i forget which slide but there's a nice table on what is being kept/cut.
Don't know anything about Barclays but can say that at least at the analyst level UBS lev fin has decent megafund exit opps, good to very good culture, and is a highly modeling intensive group.
UBS. Levfin group has the best exit opp (probably even better than the M&A at UBS) within UBS. They do some pitches but mostly execution and will carry the models.
Culture is not great and hours are pretty bad but you will get your shot at most decent PE funds later on during the recruiting season, including megafunds.
Yeah, when I meant GS / MS / BX have better exit opps. I was speaking for the banks overall - not LevFin specifically. That being said, even GS / MS LevFin probably have better exit opps. at the analyst level just based on name (know a guy from GS LevFin going to Apax and am assuming someone from MS with a good school, etc. got a similar exit opportunity).
At the end of the day I'm going to echo the others when I say that BarCap has a better rep right now. However, your work will be slightly more markets-focused than at UBS. Both factor into exit opps. (the rep. more if you're looking at analyst exit opps. to PE and the deal execution experience more if you're looking at associate exit opps. to PE/Credit HF)
A last point I'd make is that your exit opps. from an associate role are going to be limited regardless. Even at GS (non-TMT), associates don't have the luxury of looking at the types of exit opps. their analysts do by a long shot.
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