Would appreciate any information on boutiques in Asia / greater China. Evercore, Moelis, Lazard, Rothschild, Houlihan Lokey, Lincoln International, and BDA Partners are so far some names I can think of. How would you rank their business and how they are compared to BBs in Asia? Thanks!
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Perspective is HK-biased and can’t speak for SG/AUS
Boutique is not a thing in general. Limited interest and very limited supply.
Can assume tiering similar to US/Europe
Top tier EB get top grads and BB laterals (EVR/MOE)
Lower tier boutiques get big 4 laterals (BDA)
HL doing well in Rx
Met interns at LAZ/Roths that saw working there as a stepping stone to land a BB gig eventually
Can’t speak to how individual banks are doing. Working in a BB and never work with any boutique on deals and rarely seen them in LT.
Honorable mention: China Renaissance (China / new economy / TMT / biotech focused, seen very good exits); Admiralty Harbour (Rx focused); In China, there is a type of boutique called FA (short for Financial Adviser) that mostly work with top startups and VC
BB vs EB exits: Would say that exits from BB would be better than EB. Buyside (MFPE, HF, global long only, SWF, Canadian pensions) are full of BB alums. Corps recognize BB and most people likely never heard of any EB. Would caveat that EB usually have good relationships with some sponsors and blue chip corps so it provides a path for exits but would still be limited vs BB
thanks for your detailed answer! How’s the exit opportunities compare between top EBs and tier2/3 BBs then in Asia? Will those BBs still have an edge due to widely-received brand name or top boutiques are regarded as a level higher?
I think it's more helpful to compare with context
The sample size from EB is also too small to make a meaningful comparison, MS alone might hire more in IBD than all EB combined
Some solid boutiques from the US are just recently building up their team or junior workforces in APAC
If you are looking to exit to buyside: when applying for a buyout job, I would say that EVR M&A would have an edge vs a top BB Healthcare Analyst who only did 18A IPOs; but I would not be surprised if that hedge fund PM / Investment Analyst sees EVR as a weaker bank vs any top/mid tier BB
If you are applying for SA/FT: I suggest applying to both (BB and EB) and considering who gives you an offer / if you like the people you talk to / group placement / etc.; chances are you have higher odds to land a BB position anyway
Back in the day, most BBs including all top BBs gave me interviews but only 1 EB did so where I know some people in that shop already. When asked offline, a comment I got is my CV was drowned out by the HYPWS applicants they have received (I am from a regional target outside of the US)
Another anecdote is that the people I met from top EB are sharper / smarter / more presentable than most people from top BB
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