Best Energy Investment Banking Groups?
Saw the TPH vs. Jefferies HOU debate, and was just wondering where the best energy groups are at because I feel like it's a pretty consolidated industry at the top no? In terms of criterion I'd say pay, hours (long at all the top firms it seems), deal flow, exit opps (both TX and NY--would assume different per firm), culture/people, which verticals they're best in, and most technically demanding firms would all be good to have color on.
Edit: Might get shit for asking a question that's been answered on WSO before but figure landscape has probably changed in the recent years.
Bump. Interested to hear about Moelis and Evercore.
Both Evercore and Moelis have fallen off tremendously in the past year
Both had lights out years during the COVID RX wave but that work didn’t translate into M&A mandates with those companies after markets recovered. They were both impacted by the same trend in energy - there just aren’t enough deals for the number of banks, and once you factor in “feeding the lenders” there is very little left for the boutiques.
At Evercore, Finnie retired which really hurt the upstream practice and his heirs haven’t gotten much done. Pacha and Strong are still good but there hasn’t been much on the midstream side. OFS is now energy transition, which isn’t a real vertical even if banks want to pretend that it is.
Moelis never really had a strong M&A practice in Houston. It’s always been an elite RX shop that has to scrape and grind during M&A season. I don’t think they closed a deal last year.
When oil inevitably crashes again they will both bring in insane fees and give the MDs 3 years of extra leash.
Debatable on the RX cycle… Companies don’t just restructure every couple years, and I think leverage levels are generally lower as companies already restructured themselves to be fine at lower commodity prices in the last crash. Think it’ll be a while til we see another RX wave even when oil goes down.
Are you like 24 or something? There were definitely companies that restructured in 2016 and 2020 - plenty of shitcos in oil and gas that will always RX during a downturn
gas E&P companies for sure if Nat gas stays below $2 for another year or 18 months
Bump. Curious to hear about GS JPM EVR BofA C JEF RBC TPH etc
GS - Whale hunters. Good chance of being on whatever mega deal of the year. Have never heard a single positive thing about the culture.
JPM - Great shop, largest lender in the space, extremely toxic and routinely screws over interns. Avoid like the plague, especially entering uncertain economic times. Not worth the risk of snuffing out your finance career before it begins by getting no-offered.
EVR - See above. Still good, but their strongest vertical (midstream) has been slow.
Citi - Elite as recently as last year, arguably were the best all-around bank in Houston. Trauber retired, Laghari left, and CEO Rachel Maddow is overtly hostile to O&G and is pulling back from lending in the space. Still have some good people (e.g. Jameison) but expect them to fall off hard.
Jefferies - Still very good. Probably top in upstream, which has been the most active vertical over the past couple of years. Ralph Eads might be the last remaining "living legend" in the space that still shows up to meetings (Trauber, Osmar, etc. all gone)
TPH - Still kicking, still good in upstream. Good shop and solid culture (for Houston).
RBC - Have always been a solid office but have improved over the past couple of years. Would be surprised if they weren't one of the top RBC offices.
BofA - Office kept alive by capital markets and lending like half+ of the bulges in Houston. Don't do much M&A. Very "meh" office but BofA is still a good brand name for the resume.
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