Greenhill vs Citi vs Guggenheim vs CS for NYC IB SA
hi everyone, as title suggests, looking to make a deicision between these firms soon. for those wondering, acceleration at target and diversity programs made the above offer pool possible.
Basically would like to hear about exit opps and working culture at the above firms. can't guarantee a group at citi or CS right now, greenhill and guggenheim are generalist
as for using the search function, can't seem to find concrete updated info on any of the firms. Citi and CS seem to be solid but don't really see updated exit opps. GHL is apparently going through some issues? and wso seems to love or hate guggenheim with no consensus on it. so yeah, would love to hear your thoughts. thanks! :)
Personally would rank them as CS>Gugg>Citi>Greenhill
With that being said I don't think there is a huge difference separating these firms except for Greenhill's recent issues, which would take them off the board for me.
At the end of the day I personally would be choosing between CS (imo an inarguably better BB vs Citi) and Gugg depending on the culture of the places and what type of an experience you are looking for (BB vs EB). CS is the safest route in terms of exit ops, however, if you are really keen on Healthcare/TMT, Gugg has been killing it in those industries and may have great upside as the firm continues to expand
Is Citi really considered definitively below CS? Surprising as per league tables and general talk on the forum.
No, Citi is a great bank with a top M&A group. But in general, other groups are weaker than CS
I don't quite agree with some of the rankings on this and hope the OP didn't take a Guggenheim offer over a Citi offer. The case here is more interesting as there isn't a GS/MS/JPM/EVR/LAZ offer on the table.
On a pure PE placement basis, what I have seen: CS M&A/Sponsors > Citi M&A > CS > Citi > Greenhill > Guggenheim
I don't know where anyone gets the idea that Guggenheim places well on the buyside, but I think they've sort of fizzled out this past year or so. The Analyst classes that came before me and around my time never proved to have placed onto the buyside as much as the other names. The "level" of people, on average, that seem to end up at Guggenheim never stacked up to the average "level" at the other shops either from what I have seen. That is not to say there aren't superstars at Guggenheim either.
On the topic of Greenhill, they've been on the downhill for the past 3-4 years. But the most recent classes still seem to be solid and their worklife/analyst experience are still respected by hungry aspiring IBD analysts as well as buyside recruiters. They hands down have more alumni on the buyside than Guggenheim as well. I would take Greenhill over Guggenheim if I'm thinking of IBD as a 2 year stint before jumping to the buyside.
The MS may just come from Guggenheim hopefuls or signed summer analysts. I think the Analysts there, and the ones I have known personally that are/were there, would have a more realistic view on exits.
The exits I know of firsthand and have seen are mostly to MM and occasionally upper MM. I would not be surprised if in there cumulative analyst classes over the past few years there was a MF placement or two, but that is just not the norm from what I can tell. Heck, my last place saw a lot of Gugg analysts looking at more established platforms.
I can only tell you what I have seen firsthand and my take on the firm. It definitely has seen some great deals and dealflow in the past few years, but dealflow, as most Analysts on the street know, does not equal exit opp placement. That for the most part takes attracting "top-tier talent" in the eyes of recruiters (the standard BS crap of schools, grades, and group), and the so-called "top-tier talent" from what I can tell are still heading to the GS/MS/JPM/EVR/LAZ type of places.
I do want to stress though that you should definitely not be basing your choice on the advice of college students on WSO or even posts like mine, and should be taking everything on this forum with a grain of salt. I would suggest trying to connect with former Guggenheim (or Citi/CS/Greenhill) analysts for a take on the current state of the previous firm and how recruiting was. I would be interested in hearing differently.