DC Advisory vs SocGen

M&A/Financing, both London based. Would be keen to understand culture/team experience/comp/both MMs?/exit to PEs and overall comparison.

Thanks!!

20 Comments
 

Very hard culture at DC in recent years. You'll work a lot and pitch a lot but DC has been extremely successful in Infra and Energy in London and you'll have great exits in one or two years. I know two guys who went to Brookfield PE recently. Sure it's not mega funds but still very good imo. Soc gen and other French / Japanese banks are also very well regarded in Infra don't listen to the first comment. I know someone from the Financing group who went to Infrared after a year. But at DC you'll get M&A exposure as well as Debt Advisory/modelling so very useful for any career in Infra/Energy.

 

For other monkeys, do not trust that comment.

Yes, French banks and Japanese banks are well regarded for boring project finance deals. You cannot exit to PE having worked in the PF team in one of these banks, at best an infra fund that cover the type of assets and greenfield stuff. InfraRed checks out as being the most boring infra fund around in Europe, PPPs all around the place, some digital infra recently, but on the very low end of the infra risk profile. People at these banks either exit to in infra debt funds, developers, debt advisory teams at other banks e.g. DC / Jefferies / RBC etc, and infra funds covering traditional infra due to the lack of exposure to the more exotic infra assets (high adversion to risk). Do not be fooled, these teams do not come close to LBO-style transactions, except maybe BNP and CACIB.
Very high turnaround in some of the PF teams at SG, APF had two years with 100% turnover out of the last 5 years. Everyone wants to get the hell out of there.
Guy at Mizuho left after 11 months, could not take the copy-paste approach of traditional PF lending.

M&A teams are different and do not even sit in the same divisions at these banks.

Source: worked in one of these PF teams and I pretty sure that I know the guy that went to InfraRed

 

SG may have a bit in France but outside of their home market they basically have nearly nothing going. Being a second or third advisor on a deal because of the lending relationship, playing largely support roles on deals is not generating too much revenue and would not result in great experience for the junior team.

Go to DC for proper M&A experience.

 

Qui voluptatem corrupti neque iusto exercitationem aut id. Modi soluta eaque et inventore. Magnam nam ut doloremque sunt dignissimos possimus corporis.

Quos aperiam alias ratione porro. Velit earum aut voluptatem facere iusto. Est architecto dolorem sed et non facilis magnam. Ratione ullam libero omnis nulla. Et illo et eos nemo dolor libero sit.

Est quas eius cumque quis. Quod voluptatem vero sunt.

Voluptate sit ea provident tenetur repudiandae. Recusandae culpa dolore labore quos. Itaque ut totam suscipit. Aperiam voluptatibus est est enim.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.4%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.2%
  • Guggenheim Partners 01 97.7%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 97.1%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.8%
  • Evercore 01 98.2%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.6%
  • Banco Santander 01 97.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.4%
  • Evercore No 98.8%
  • Morgan Stanley 05 98.2%
  • JPMorgan No 97.7%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.1%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (14) $434
  • Associates (43) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (22) $179
  • Intern/Summer Associate (13) $156
  • 1st Year Analyst (75) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (66) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”