Centerview partners London

Hey, Read about 50k sign-in bonuses, AN1 hitting 150-180k and senior vps hitting 1 mil in CVP nyc. What’s the deal in London, heard they have a small staff but high end deals. Whats the comp in London?

Thanks

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recruiting is for top targets only (LSE/Oxbridge) and highly technical as far as i'm aware. also not much headcount

 

They recruit from all (UK) targets for sure, not sure about european ones but lean towards those you named indeed due to having events on campus for them. Dartmouth partners runs their recruiting, they have a page open. They are quite small (sub 10 per analyst class) not sure about the exact numer as they have grown a bit over the last few years. 
Comps is good (basically pays top of the street - I won’t post numbers because it’s stupid honeslty - if you have an offer from them they are happy to speak about it) from what I hear but deal experience is mixed - you may land one massive strategic deal, but you may also close no deal for 1-2 years. 

 

last year knew people that went through the process and dartmouth didn't run it, partners did. headcount wasn't close to 10 either - closer to 3. they're smaller than Ghl in headcount, and Ghl only take 5/6 analysts a class

 

does CVP/PJT/PWP etc work on debt raises? or is it strictly M&A? 

I ask as I'm ideally looking for a firm that does mostly M&A? I don't want to be attributed to any debt stuff so any pure or near to pure M&A firm recommendations would be appreciated. 

 

My understanding is that they recruit mainly through OCR at targets, probably possible but unlikely to recruit through the CV drop if you're at one of these schools. Know of people from Oxbridge, LSE, and UCL who have secured interviews and offers from them.

Can't comment on exact comp but it is very high, from vague conversations my understanding is that it's in the same ballpark as PJT and PWP in London (110-120k all-in for top An1), probably a little higher but couldn't say the range exactly.

The biggest difference for Centerview London versus NY is that they source most of their deals through the US so tend to have lower dealflow than other independent advisories in Europe. Still a very decent shop in London but not at the level of the NY office, hence why you'll see it often "ranked" below LAZ / EVR / RTH / PJT / PWP etc. in London / Europe.

 

In theory yes, but it's much harder to do this than people imagine (this goes for all banks in London not just Centerview). Sometimes you can go on 1 year secondment but making the permanent move is very challenging without already having the right to work in the US.

 

So if you stay in London for long term, what are the setbacks?

Is the comp low?

Are the the exit opportunities less? And I’ve heard that CVP is good for staying long term.

What else?

 
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Couldn't comment on long-term comp implications but generally long-term IB is more poorly compensated in London versus NY.

Think the main setbacks for CVP London are:

1. You get very good junior comp but long clawbacks so you're tied to CVP for a while (CVP generally not just London)

2. Mixed deal experience (as noted by PEM above); you could do your An1 and An2 with 0 completed deals under the belt with only moderate upside of being involved in a couple of big deals. Most other top tier shops in London have higher upside and lower downside regarding deal completion.

The combination of these two can really limit exit opportunities for the "typical" IB to PE path.

I can also imagine that some people find the idea of being beholden to NY to throw you a bone on deals a little intellectually stifling as you climb the rungs. But this is just a theory.

In general I gather it's a great place to be for a long-term career filled with smart people but just not the way to go if you're interested in optimising buyside exit opportunities in London.

 

Couldn't comment on CVP's involvement in debt versus M&A deals.

PJT does a good bit of debt with some pretty consistent clients and also do M&A. An1s are typically across Rx and M&A so they do so a good volume of debt-related transactions overall.

Know that PWP are pretty active in M&A but no idea what their debt involvement has been like recently.

There are also other banks in the City that work on very large deals / lots of deals so you definitely shouldn't just restrict yourself to these three despite the above market pay.

 

Second year of undergrad I went to their AC and got dinged but throughout the networking events the partners were heavily involved and would openly discuss compensation. They specifically mentioned they pay very highly so people do not leave because of compensation issues. I'd image they pay tip-top of the street but the downside being the 3 year commitment you sign and clawbacks on bonus and sign-on should you leave prematurely. 

As an aside, that year they openly mentioned one of the senior partners made £8m which in London is spectacular in my books.

 

Oxford does have a few bits of OCR for sure -- as does LBS. Cambridge probably similar.

 

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