BofA/Citi/CS vs LAZ/PWP/MOE

How do the mid tier BB’s stack up against these 3 EB’s if you are interested in finance but not only a PE hardo (open to VC, Corp Dev potentially). By stack up I mean prestige, exit opps, skill set development — ik comp is higher at EB.

10 Comments
 

For growth stage or buyout (where it’s mostly ex bankers) the EB name will probably go a little farther?

but also if you’re in a BB tech coverage group you’ll probably get a better tech experience (broader as well since doing equity and debt not just M&A)

if you’re going out of industry or to VC (not all ex bankers) may be better to have a BB name (e.g. VCs would presumably be more familiar with a BB that bookran one of its IPO exits than an advisory boutique) 

 

Pretty group dependent for BBs - however a couple of issues with that:

  1. None of these banks formally give offers into groups.
  1. All incoming SAs / FTs are aware of what the top groups are - making them exceptionally competitive.

This is partially why you frequently see people preference these EBs when deciding at a firm level.

Having said that, theoretically Imho there’s 3 tiers:

  1. Top groups at mid-BBs (M&A, Sponsors, and Levfin groups at Bofa/Citi/CS + P&U, Nat Res, and Industrials at Barclays) along with the 3 EBs you listed (all roughly equivalent).
  1. Top coverage at Bofa/Citi (REGAL at both comes to mind, maybe Power and Energy and Citi as well), other strong coverage at Barc
  1. All other coverage groups at these BBs.

Some people here will try to distinguish between the top groups, I think that’s splitting hairs.

 

Would say baml REGAL places better than most of the so-called tier 1 group in your ranking. Verifiable through LinkedIn. Also LevFin really does not place as well to PE as people think on this site. 

 

Industrials at all of the banks really in tier 1. At least realtive to Barclays Industrials, I don't see it as significantly stronger than any of the other mentioned banks' teams.

 

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