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Jefferies is a sweatshop, Ardea is great from an experience standpoint - high exposure lean deal teams and great pay. Fenchurch is very technical and reflects in their deals - growing out US franchise. IAP and Howden a bit smaller / not as built out
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Do sweatshops generally pay well or hours and pay not that correlated?
They are not correlated. They will pay the minimum they have to based on market, and even less if the firm as a whole is going through a tough time.
Ardea is great to become a career banker. Above street pay and huge deals relative to firm size.
Piper Sandler is one of the big time advisors on community bank M&A. They also do other financials but that’s the bread n butter. If you don’t want to advise on community bank A’s acquisition of community bank B, then it’s probably not for you.
Also, following the Piper acquisition, as well as the recent tepid pace of deal making, some Sandler folks have left or been axed. Not sure who is left.
All of them have great insurance practices. Piper hired head of insurtech from Jefferies and is trying to build out that tech enabled insurance coverage. It has traditionally more focused on lightly covered companies (Enstar, Abacus that kind).
Ardea covers more of blue chip insurance clients due to Chris’ relationship. Like the other person said, great pay and all execution, little to none pitches.
Jefferies brought over Alejandro from CS in 2021 and has greatly expanded the FIG group - lots of mandates. I think of it on par with Citi (led by Jawad who is also from CS).
IAP and Fenchurch are all small boutique shops that don’t have junior protection. Great experience but do expect to work very very hard.
Cowen is next one to watch. Also led by ex CS people and I’ve been seeing them everywhere. I don’t know if they are the same as the TD since the Cowen people have a different email address.
How do the mid level bankers (VP, D) plan to build their relationships if the deals coming in are all from Chris and they aren't out pitching? What does the progression look like at those levels if the goal is to be a career banker.
Are all of them sweatshops by nature since they are IB or are some of them more of a sweatshop than others? And is it fair to assume the office culture / team dynamics are the same at each or are some better than others (i.e., expectations around working in-office vs. WFH when working late, enjoying the people you work with, etc.)?
I’d also note Berkshire Global Advisors and Broadhaven. Both FIG focused boutiques with a lean structure and solid mandates
Thoughts on UBS/Citi/Barclays FIG?
IAP is a sweatshop from what I've heard but strong up and coming boutique. Led by former heads of Insurance IB at JMP and BofA.
Which of these banks fits Fintech into their FIG groups? Some split fintech into tech.
Broadhaven has a big fintech presence
Which firms on the street (including those not listed in the original post) are best for Insurance IB? Looking for a ranking, could imagine GS at top but which other firms are great? Any EBs with strong insurance practices?
JPM #1 in insurance M&A
Worth mentioning other middle market firms such as:
1) Berkshire Global Advisors
2) Broadhaven Partners
Berkshire is probably right up there with Ardea (specifically with regards to private markets advisory) while Broadhaven does some more fintech oriented work
Randomly curious about their London businesses
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