Honest thoughts on Guggenheim
First of all I just want to start off by saying that this post is NOT an attack on Guggenheim in any way, but rather is just an attempt for me to learn more about the firm. That being said...
Currently an AN2 at a top BB Industrials group after spending my first year in their M&A group. Throughout my time on Wall Street I've honestly never seen us go against Guggenheim on a pitch. I've seen us pitch against plenty of other BBs, most EBs, Jefferies, the in-between banks like WF and RBC, and most MMs that play in the UMM space, but have yet to see Guggenheim even once. Looking at Guggenheim's transaction list on their website, they don't seem to close that many advisory deals either, and while they have the occasional mid-cap or mega-cap deal the vast majority of their deals are solidly in the MM space.
That being said, I see that Guggenheim is super hyped up across WSO, with many people saying that it should be considered in the same tier as mid-tier BBs and EBs. I'm not trying to deny Guggenheim's status, but I'm just confused where this sentiment across WSO comes from. Their deal flow doesn't really impress me, and from what I've their culture doesn't seem amazing either. Can anyone (preferably in the Industry and not just a prospect) shine some light on what I'm missing?
Your first mistake was thinking that WSO's view means anything. Probably over 3/4 of this forum is just prospects ranking firms based on who knows what and MSing posters with actual industry experience whenever they add their two cents.
Have friends there who love the culture/people they work with, pay is close to top of Street and I believe I saw chart on here a couple weeks ago that listed Gugg as #13 in deal value for first half of 2021. Seems pretty good to me.
Just a curious prospect, but isn't Gugg top of the line for certain HC verticals and for Structured Finance?
TMT is one of the best EB groups out there.
Lmao their TMT group is solid but nowhere close to the best among EBs. PJT and Moelis are head and shoulders above other EBs in Media and Telecom with Lazard/PWP/Gugg/CVP among the "above average" crowd. Evercore and Lazard dominate Tech, as well as Q if you count them as an EB.
Better than Moelis/Greenhill overall.
I'd say comparable to Lazard/PWP.
Below EVR/CVP.
Guggenheim has a good esoteric structured products group - they have a strong presence in niche structureds like WBS, container, non-prime auto. They have done some innovative new issuances like the DGO securitization which created an ABS from a collateral pool of low-decline PDP appalachia gas wells; which was a great win for the company and for the bondholders.
Their team mainly has a very strong syndicate presence and while they do use coverage bankers to build out innovative product (e.g. a consumer banker for a restaurant securitization); it is mainly Guggenheim's expertise in SPG that wins the deal, as opposed to any kind of IB coverage expertise. It's not hard to understand most businesses; but it takes good thought to find a way to securitize them intelligently, and Gugg excels at this. So to answer your question, they really exist as their own unit and also have a good S&T presence in these products.
Ever since Tom Humphrey left (not that he did much), Guggenheim is more of a set of fiefdoms than a collective investment bank. This is not a knock on Gugg; many broker-dealers fall into this category and there is no shame in having a few strong business lines dominate the conversation. They lost most of their corporate credit traders 1 - 2 years ago mainly to rivals like Stifel; which ended up being fine within the business model.
thoughts on the restructuring group? seems like they're on the come-up. won washington prime group company-side which is like the top mandate of the year so far. would put them in my top 5 for restructuring groups.
exits this past class to carlyle, ares, lone star, cvc, tiger cub and some reputable long/shorts
Guggenheim’s Energy group in Houston is just a bunch of phi delts from SMU
If you’re in a top group I would say it is comparable to UBS, DB and JEF - JEF is #6 market share in IB this year so save your monkey shit. Recruiting from all of these 3 is similar, you are going to get looks if you are good
Wut? If you're in a top Guggenheim group it's for sure better than UBS/DB. And same goes for JEF - their deal sizes may be similar but the culture is definitely better in general at Gugg and they don't have a CEO who spends half his day on insta trolling other banks for WLB in a shocking display of myopic irony.
There's a lot of false information being spread here so I thought I'd chime in. No one is denying Jefferies' momentum but I think it's inaccurate to say that Guggenheim's top groups are just on the same level as Jefferies.
Let's start with TMT. Guggenheim's Head of IB is the former head of Media at JPM. Guggenheim has worked on Disney / Fox ($70B), IBM / Red Hat ($34B), Discovery / Scripps ($15B), Verizon / Vodafone ($130B), Nexstar / Tribune ($5B), and Verizon / Yahoo ($5B) just to name a few.
For Healthcare, they're on every Pfizer deal and have also worked on Abbot / St. Jude ($25B), KKR / Envision ($10B), Bristol Myers / MyoKardia ($13B), Jazz / GW ($7B), etc.
Restructuring - Do you guys know who Jim Millstein is? Do some research on the Guggenheim / Millstein acquisition and then you can also do some research on the deals that Guggenheim has worked on since the acquisition. It really isn't that hard.
I don't know too much about their Industrials group but have seen a few exits to HIG. I believe they were on Middleby / Welbilt ($4B).
I don't have much context into how their recently opened Middle Market group is affecting their deal flow and smaller deals, but I'm sure it is making an impact. Separately, they list all of their transactions on their website while a lot of other firms just list their biggest transactions (e.g., PJT, Jefferies, etc.)
Also, "EB" is a strange term that isn't really used outside of this forum but you'll see Moelis and Lazard on several middle market deals as well. The firms in these "EB" conversations tend to have more spotty coverage than BBs (e.g., how much is PJT doing in Consumer?). These firms also tend to pay above street.
For all the prospects out there (and supposedly an AN2), just know that you can research this data instead of listening to other uneducated college students who comment with 0 backing.
Just my two cents. Hope it's helpful and doesn't get too much MS from the Jefferies employees.
I hate myself for being on here BUT
I love Guggenheim. Some groups are sweatier than others and I would say I am in one of the more "sweaty" groups. However, my hours are not as bad as my friends at bulge brackets in other coverage groups. Since Guggenheim does in-house M&A I also get good deal experience and I would say also good exit opps.
Culture varies group to group, but I am close with analysts across all groups - we go out together etc. The culture is awesome. Pay is great. Just my two cents