Houlihan Lokey Financial Valuation & Advisory (FVA) Team
Anyone have any details on the exit opportunities / reputation with other sell-side banks and buyside firms?
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Generally decent exits to mm/bb. but also the specific group within fva can make a slight difference. I’m aware off Cvas and Pvfa being two that have a lot of people exit. Not sure about transaction opinions. Seen 2 from cvas/pvfa however who were able to lateral to ebs.
buyside can be limited but I know from ppl I’ve talked to that hl is pvfa does valuations for hedge funds/pe firms so it’s possible to leverage connections and exit.
Great, thanks! Mind if I PM you?
Sure!
transaction opinions and fund opinions are the ones with the most potential to exit, their work is a little more modeling centric and they also get paid more within fva compared to other groups. CVAS is much more of a quanty group than traditional ib and you do coding on the job.
Checks out, thanks. Do you see exits to IB M&A mainly, or any to DCM or credit research?
they dont do the most debt work outside of a few niches so doubt thats a main focus area for exits but im guessing they could if they wanted to.
the thing is those groups within HL are seen as a lifestyle alternative to traditional ib, most associates if not homegrown are laterals from ib and they prefer working less hours for a haircut on bonus. juniors (usually 1-2 yoe) who go to ib are usually bored w/ the work and probably didnt get a good ib offer so they used fva as a springpad to get back in. they wouldnt be interested in lateraling to dcm or credit research if just starting their career
Can speak to this - I would avoid this group unless you have no other options because you are doing a lot of boiler plate template DCFs where you are copying the sponsors projections, you are not doing sophisticated operating model builds. You get a decent understanding of the capital structure and how value breaks across different securities, especially in a distressed context (which is very useful); however, the modelling you are exposed to is sub par compared to a good M&A group or Financial Sponsors Group, but those teams are very doable exit options from FVA - you will very easily be able to lateral afterwards, especially at a place like HL FVA.
Thanks for this! Mind if I PM you?
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