I saw an earlier thread about culture at different groups at CS, but wanted to hear everyone's thoughts on the top groups for deal flow, exit ops, general presitige, ect. Is sponsors and levfin still top? I saw a few earlier threads saying this but wanted to see if anything has changed
Thanks
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Yes both continue to dominate league tables and have a good reputation across the street
According to the company’s recent investor update, their sponsors / leveraged finance franchise is #1 on the Street YTD. They are also top 5 in global M&A deals and have been involved in some high-profile tech deals.
CS LA Sponsors
For what reason? Do you have any more insight on LA?
CS analyst in NYC. Not sure where the LFOR hype comes from (and isn't really thought about from my perspective), but internally the hierarchy generally goes (in terms of deal flow, exits ops):
1. Sponsors (not quite as dominant from an analyst POV as before, still probably the best group for exits but tied with M&A, much better culture than M&A)
2. M&A (rising in terms of ops, but bad culture)
3. T / MT (MT is probably considered stronger, but not sure since this is the first year this has happened. good culture. Good exits consistently but only for a few people)
4. GIG (good deal flow, not great WLB, like TMT good exits consistently but only for a few people per class)
5. REGAL (good group and culture, decent exits but obviously niche)
6. Healthcare (good ECM work, but not great M&A)
7. Consumer (OK deal flow, OK exits, not good culture)
8. FIG (grind, OK deal flow, bad culture, OK exits)
Leveraged finance and sponsors are synonymous in CS’s case because the Sponsors group runs the model for all PE-backed deals, much like traditional LevFin groups at other banks. Historically, CS has been one of the best banks in the leveraged loan space.
Yes, but there is a separate LFOR group which gets a lot of hype. Don't know much about them and within the bank is not really sought after, since yes, you are right, Sponsors is basically a hybrid relationship / LevFin group for any sponsor deal, which is the main driver of CS' LevFin practice
Former CS analyst here. I happen to agree with this list
What are some of the top groups at the Associate level? Is it still Sponsors?
Any idea about NY energy/infra?
Good culture and solid exits recently. Deal flow primarily LevFin then M&A
so is the consensus that LFOR is not a top group?
I have multiple friends at the firm and have heard levfin along with sponsors are the top groups because they both do well in the levfin league tables, offer good deal flow and good technical experience. If I had to do group selection I would put sponsors, levfin, M&A, tech then industrials but that is just me.
LFOR is only talked about because it gets tied to the Sponsors Levfin work. CS sponsors Levfin is always near top of the street. LFOR works with corporate clients — in this space, CS is not top of the street.
LFOR is a pretty good group, but not comparable to sponsors. Seems like the exits from the group are typically random MM shops (mix of debt and more traditional PE) with the occasional brand name mixed in there
How is the culture in their securitized products team?
I don't work at the bank but other alumni from my school have and it seems that LFOR has had some decent PE placement? Seen a number go to stronger MM shops.
Good list to what I know but from what I've seen for FIG is probably ahead of REGAL and Consumer especially after the last 2 years. Great rep across the street and top 3 FIG deal flow over the last 24 months working on every FIG mega merger in that period
How are exits from HC generally?
What you mean “bad culture”?
Sponsors, LevFin and heard their Consumer team is quite strong
Their consumer team is bad. Definitely not a top consumer group on the street. Their past 2 analyst / associate classes have been horrific.
Horrific in terms of culture, quality of analysts/associates, or exit opps?
^bump above comment on securitized products team
Can’t speak to the culture, but CS has traditionally been a leader in the securitized products space
what are FIG exits like?
There's a strong group at CS?
(jk, M&A and Sponsors are decent, others are different story)
CS bankers are always known for their good sports and abilities to take a joke.
Any insights into the London teams?
Can someone provide some information regarding the Industrials team?
Good group overall to be in. They do this weird process where analysts are assigned to specific sectors of industrials (like mining or chemicals). Good exits every year but I think that there are only a few (they have a big class, and like 4-5 will get good exits, rest are random). Great deal flow at CS. Sweaty and grind culture, but wouldn't necessarily say "bad culture," they just work really hard. Bigger analyst class. A pretty typical above-average coverage group overall
can you provide any info on the healthcare team?
Would love to hear more about the Healthcare team, specifics beyond "heard they're strong, solid deal flow.." if anybody has any experience/deeper knowledge about the team, thanks
sucks
Can anyone speak about their Tech or Media & Telecom teams? I heard they are now separate?
I'm also pretty curious how they're viewed now that they're separate. Is Media & Telecom better than Tech?
Incoming anl at CS. Tech is seen as better and is more highly sought after in group placement for sure. M&T is less media more telecom (boring imo) but CS has a few big accounts with repeat business. Tech covers internet, software, and semis so you get a very broad experience and can focus on what you're interested in (the former two have more equity - company profiles better for VC/growth exits, the latter is much more M&A, debt, modeling - better for PE).
Had a former roommate and friend who summered in M&A there. Sounds like a nice group. Smart people go in and come out of the group it seems like. Nice people overall. Nice to do M&A at a BB in general
Anyone have info on healthcare and consumer/retail?
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