CIBC & Wells Fargo - Houston Investment Banking

Wells Fargo is underrated in Houston. The office has been involved in high-profile energy transactions, including Chart Industries, USA Compression, Mach, and Antero. They recently hired a Midstream MD from GS to spearhead the midstream advisory. Exit opportunities are not purely traditional O&G, with many analysts placed into Texas-based lower-middle-market PE funds such as Capstreet and Insight Equity. While the exits are not top-tier. Among the balance sheet banks in Houston, I would say their comps are Barclays and Bofa, a tier above Scotia and TD, and clearly a tier below RBC and JPM. 

CIBC’s stated focus in Houston is CCUS and midstream, but there is no actual deal activity. Their most recent notable involvement was the Colonial Pipeline transaction, where they served as maybe the third advisor and arranged some debt. CCUS is dead. For the exits, the sample size is too small. I know one analyst has recently exited to CIM Group in California.