What's everyone's opinion on what the best firms are in Houston? Not just deal flow but culture, WLB and how much people generally enjoy working there. The reason I'm asking is that I'm primarily recruiting for Houston. As a native Houstonian at a semi-target (target for a few local mid-tier BB's, but not a ton of name recognition nationwide) at best, I feel like that's my best shot to break into the industry.
Thanks in advance.
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DB and BMO are the most selective & prestigious Houston offices
This is funny because BMO does not have a houston office anymore
That's what makes it so selective
it was so selective that they couldn't find anyone and closed the office
For BBs (not sure about boutiques) -
Tier 1: Citi/JPM/GS
Tier 2: MS
Tier 2a: RBC/WF
Tier 3: TD, Truist, Regional Banks
(Subjective Opinion)
Not the top group in the city, and they Dont work on the biggest deals necessarily, but have a few friends at Simmons/Piper and they have great WLB; and claim to really enjoy the people and culture. I also have a couple buddies at TPH who say similar things, but they definitely work more than the Simmons guys
Do you know their comp?
Copying/modifying my answer from one of my previous posts. (This is based on my experience in the energy IB space - currently there) jump to end for TL: DR
Tier 1a: Citi, GS, JPM
These BBs are on the top alone. GS and JPM has some of the most toxic culture in HOU. At JPM, I have heard stories of stuff being thrown at others (their group head brought toxic culture over from MS). Citi is pretty fratty but has lower bonuses.
Tier 1b: Jefferies
JEF is more diversified than people give it credit (between upstream & midstream, also building out Energy Transition in HOU with a good amt. of traction). Ranked first 22 YTD. Known for some absurd pay packages (heard first hand of atleast one second year within the past 2 years that got a ~275k package). Great team of juniors that are smart yet grounded – but JEF is a sweatshop (due to its deal flow, not a toxic culture). EVR was in this group but haven't seen them on many deals post the RX wave (1 deal accounted for the bulk (>50%) of their value in 2021).
Tier 2a: MS, TPH, RBC
RBC the real gainer here - great couple of years for them [specially in A&D]. TPH historically in 1b but has fallen. TPH has seen senior turnover since, I assume, the lockups from the PWP acq. would have expired. (Interesting side note: Pickering has created a new shop that also does Energy IB, let's see how that turns out)
Tier 2b: Barclays, CS, EVR
Barclays is a legacy group that has lost its shine. CS has seen turnover in the early part of 2021 and while it was seen on a lot of the big deals at the end of 2020/beg. of 2021 it lost that steam. See above for EVR.
Kinda gets confusing below this because the shops are driven more by any given year (can get hot or cold)
Tier 3a: Intrepid, BofA, Piper Sandler (hired the team Scotia let go)
Tier 3b: WF (debt shop), MOE (similar to EVR but at a worsened scale)
Tier 4a: Lazard, Petrie, Greenhill
Tier 4b: Truist, Raymond James, PJT, UBS
Tier 5: Rest of the shops
TL: DR
Maximizing pay: JEF / EVR
Maximizing Deal Flow: Citi / JPM / JEF / GS (maybe RBC)
Maximizing Exits: Citi / GS / JPM / JEF / EVR
Note on WLB: In Houston, almost all the top groups that you would want to be at would be extremely sweaty. The groups that have a great WLB don’t have any deal flow (O&G, when compared to other cov. Groups, has a very high concentration of deal flow amongst a few banks and then a very long tail – vs. say a tech coverage). Thus, I would probably not recommend choosing a Houston group on WLB (cuz you will probably have subpar pay and exits and deal flow). Having said that, TPH is a shop that comes to mind in terms of a group with a great culture. I think analysts at MOE and LAZ probably have a good WLB when compared to those at GS/JPM/JEF.
Let me know if you have any questions.
AN1 in Houston (ignore title) this is pretty accurate for Houston.
This list is pretty accurate. Don’t know why it’s getting MS - probably from butt hurt analysts.
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Former HLHZ Houston here, HLHZ has major retention issues, can't get deals done in M&A, and has a pretty toxic near 100% male-dominated facetime culture.
They do alright on the RX portion for MM but tend to struggle on anything debtor, big, or competitive
What does An1 comp look like at JEF? If An2 is ~275k, safe to assume 220-230k ? Have heard analysts used to pull 300k+ in previous years due to Houston office having a separate bonus pool from the rest of the JefCo bank - any insight on if those numbers are long gone or still seen occasionally (esp with oil prices currently and deal flow)?
Parts of this are accurate but parts are just really bizarre. PJT is a brand new shop with one vertical and just closed a solid deal in PDC / Great Western. Putting them in the same tier as Truist and Raymond James is INSANE lol
also wayyy too much recency bias. There aren't a crazy number of M&A deals in energy in a given year, all it takes is for you to be the runner up bidder on two buy side mandates (instead of the winner) and you go from having a great year to a bad one. Barclays and CS have some structural issues with quite a few people leaving but Evercore generally doesn't (one big retirement in upstream but their top vertical was always midstream and the key players are still there). BofA doesn't really do much in Houston and Simmons has struggled to find a niche since their old niche died a horrible death (oilfield services).
Closing one deal a year hardly makes for good deal flow (even if it is one big deal). PJT goes whale hunting but I wouldn't call its deal flow consistent by any order. Truist and Raymond James have a okayish energy practice (thus 4b) but one that has consistent financings for MM/LMM companies. I think I saw PJT on 1 deal the whole of 2021 (equinor/grayson) and then there was one this year (the one you mentioned). Thus, I don't think its justified to put PJT in a tier above the one it is in right now.
I wouldn't say so. Most of the top banks complete anywhere between 15-20 deals a year for their Houston groups (was true for 2021 as well), and 1 or 2 deals shouldn't affect how your group does too much. Barclays and CS are not in the top tiers because of those exact issues. You say Evercore's top vertical has been midstream but it hasn't really been on a big midstream deal in the past 3 years other than the Phillips 66 partners - Phillips 66 deal in 2021. Agreed that BofA doesn't do much (mostly just financings) but the shops below Tier3a do even less. Also agree that Piper doesn't do much either cuz OFS deal flow has been almost non-existent for all intents and purposes but they still have some lmm deals in other verticals.
Here's my ranking as someone who recently exited:
1. EVR/GS
2. MS/JPM
3. JEFF/TPH
4. Moelis/Lazard
The tiered ranking above is actually super accurate. If you have other opinions you can mention them - your comment as it is right now is zero value add lol.
EDIT: his initial comment just said that the lists in this thread were inaccurate.
edited. see above
LOL - Even the first list on this page was more accurate than this list that you have put across. Pls see below:
EVR has been on no major deals in the past 6 months. Its total YTD value includes one announced/completed deal which was the limetree deal (with a rx background) worth 100mil. in the TTM, its Cimarex deal accounted for 8.8/12bil deal flow (just like the AN1 above mentioned) - that's more than 66% concentrated on one deal. EVR was great during 2020 when it advised a bunch of restructurings but it hasn't seen that translate into any major M&A processes. In fact, I have seen other banks such as JEFF advise companies that came out of EVR-led bankruptcies. To summarize, EVR's deal flow has been extremely spotty over the past couple of years. Not the experience I would want.
You didn't mention Citi which is the leader in energy M&A deals including the $6bil Whiting - Oasis merger that was announced yesterday. It lead 2021 with 25+ deals with an avg. deal value of $1bil. The fact that you left Citi out just clearly shows to me that you have no idea what you are talking about. Citi is, and has been one of the best energy IB banks over the past decade.
MS also is very spotty. They don't have a single O&G M&A deal announced in 2022 so far - and to put it alongside a group such as JPM (a group that leads the energy IB space ever since they brought over Jonathan Cox, ranked no. 1 TTM by deal value) also shows that you don't know actually know your stuff.
If I were to guess you were probably at EVR/MS before you exited or you worked in the industry greater than 3 years ago - because there's a lot of stuff that you mention which is inaccurate on multiple levels.
For a guy who called the other lists inaccurate you sure as hell made one extremely inaccurate list. Still think that the list AN1 put is super accurate.
Bro you “don’t actually know stuff” - what the fuck is an offshore refinery?
you mean offshore OFS firms? Moron.
Agree with your comments man. Not mentioning Citi and ranking EVR so high is absurd
I was prior involved in interview processes for O&G coverage at GS and LAZ Houston TX.
From my experience both of them were extremely strong and robust groups. No first hand insight into other firms as I received an offer from the above and didn't proceed with other firm processes.
From my knowledge, however, I would say that general sentiment of a firm's reputation and prestige, particularly if they are a BB, reflects on how good the firm is regardless if they are situated in NY or Houstin TX. Slight exceptions with industry boutiques and O&G MMs.
Yeah, no. This isn’t very accurate. Lazard’s houston practice is neither “extremely strong” nor “robust” and the point about bank reputations being consistent across NYC and Houston is patently false (especially pre-COVID, but still post).
O&G coverage is an incredibly different world. As mentioned above, Citi’s Houston office punches significantly above its weight class relative to its presence in other industries, CS used to crush it in energy prior to self destructing over the past year, MS fell off the charts completely once Cox left for JPM (which realized both an immediate increase in deal flow and degradation in culture as a result), GS used to whale hunt and do one deal a year (they still whale hunt, but post COVID have had a ton more success and been crushing it). RBC is actually an honorable mention here as they’ve built out their practice very well and have gotten on a pretty material number of deals. On the boutique/MM side, Jefferies is probably the strongest player (again, contrary to its NYC competitive position) while traditionally well-respected NYC banks like Lazard, Moelis and PJT have fairly limited scale and presence in Houston. Evercore used to be top but in a post COVID world, have really fallen off and are now stuck doing a ton of small energy transition cap raises and fairness opinions. And just for good measure, you have a firm like Piper Sandler which isn’t super relevant in other sectors (barring FIG/Chems via Sandler and Valence acquisitions) that is actually notable in the Houston landscape
Fair point. My knowledge of the space is limited in terms of interview scope, and my impressions primarily come from two close friends at GS Houston. Reflecting on the general industry, it is good to get input and criticism in saying that there is a larger part to O&G verticals I'm not familiar with.
I will catch up with those I know more in regard to the industry.
This is very accurate. People always used to prop up EVR and no doubt it has a good practice but EVR pre-covid is a stark contrast to the post-covid EVR energy group. It also remains very bloated so I wonder if we'll see any layoffs anytime soon. The lack of a balance sheet is certainly not helping either.
Also hit it on the head regarding MS -> JPM shift, GS's whale hunting and Citi's rep in HOU. The only thing I would say is that Piper Sandler has also not faired as well in recent times. I think the Simmons integration wasn't very smooth and Simmons was great in OFS which itself hasn't been anything of note in recent times. They hired the scotia A&D team 2 years ago but I don't think that has translated into much in recent times.
Currently having a great analyst experience at PJT / Lazard / Moelis. Deal flow is stable enough to afford reps & interesting deals to work on, but not robust enough to make work soulcrushing.
There are obvious differences between firms that cloud the rankings: the unequivocal leaders in Houston rn are Citi and Jefferies, albeit for different reasons. Citi is doing great in the large corporate M&A and JEFF is cleaning up the A&D, midstream side of things. Top in terms of comp/culture/deal flow? Now that is subject to far too much personal choice. JEFF seems to be closest to maxing out all three but I think they lack in terms of true "culture". Citi gets you great deal flow, culture is definitively good but comp is weaker. If you're a new analyst, literally could no go wrong at either and you will have your pick of jobs after your analyst stint.
And to stir the pot here are my rankings:
1. Citi/JEFF
2. GS, JPM, TPH
3. Barc, RBC, EVR, MS
4. Everyone else
The culture at citi in Houston is really bad? I’ve heard it’s very rough.
No I have heard good things about the group. They work very hard but also party pretty hard. Very fratty culture and I think there are group-wide social events too such as going to Trauber's lake house and stuff I have heard.
This is very true. Citi and Jefferies are great places to be. Jefferies has been the advisor on all midstream deals of note this year (the group head is a midstream guy) - and has been dominating A&D for the past 12 + years and has continued to do so. It is no secret that the JEFF group is a sweatshop (similar to all top HOU groups), but I think the biggest difference is that JEF tends to attract more nerdy people (probably because of the super-technical work) vs. Citi's fratty culture. Citi's HOU group is a very work hard party harder group.
Any info on Citi comp?
Does BofA do any deals at all in upstream/midstream? Or is it mostly financing?
///
^would love to hear more info as well. The culture seems really great and heard the pay is pretty comparable to other shops.
Interning there this summer. Culture seems great, compensation is competitive from data points I’ve received, seniors go to bat for analyses recruiting for pe, exits are decent (not really any megafunds tho but respectable shops). I believe from Friday 8pm - Sunday ~9am is protected
not sure if this posted so posting again. Interning there this summer. Culture seems great, compensation is competitive from data points I've received, seniors go to bat for analyses recruiting for pe, exits are decent (not really any megafunds tho but respectable shops). I believe from Friday 8pm - Sunday ~9am is protected
Saw someone trying to post an answer to this but it doesn’t seem to be showing up, could you PM me your answer? Would love to ask you some more questions!
Whats comp like for AN1 & AN2 at the highest paying shops in htx (evr, jeff other eb/bbs)? With no state taxes and texas COL it must be a pretty unreal deal
EVR, JEFF, and Intrepid pay great
I would say, be careful about what you’re signing up for if you’re just going to pick who is the “best”. Upstream/A&D, midstream, downstream, OFS etc are all different worlds and you should pick a group based on what’s interesting for you. If you’re into midstream, don’t go to the “top” bank that really just had a strong A&D presence
Curious about people’s thoughts on Intrepid. Obviously very new and super small with only a handful of analyst every class but seem to get pretty solid deal flow and apparently pay very well.
Any info on which firms in Houston are hybrid or somewhat flexible with WFH (i.e going home after 6pm and wfh then during the in office days)? Ive heard LAZ is but also looking for info on Citi, Jeff, EVR, JPM etc. if anyone from there has info?
JPM is a gulag. Zero chance
MC and EVR 4 days a week.
LAZ 3 days a week.
GS/PJT 5 days a week last I heard.
Any info on Jefferies?
Jefferies is flexible. Whenever you are in the office, most head out around 5-7pm and continue wfh.
TPH is relatively flexible.
BofA top group in Houston and it’s not even close. Nicest office, nicest guys, best hours, better comp than any other BB. Exits are solid and tbh most guys in Houston banking don’t want O&G PE so it doesn’t matter.
That group has been irrelevant since like 2014, they better be nice, not much else going for them
You clearly have never seen the debt markets. Which is everything in O&G
They had a very good 2018/19 when they led OXY/APC and a handful of other solid M&A deals but I don't think they've done anything since.
I would take most of the BBs over them at this point. It's the only coverage group at BofA which isn't top 3/4 in revenue.
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