Houston Energy BB Rankings

I know there have been threads on this already, but most have been discussing the boutiques or are a few years old.

I was wondering what general rankings are for BBs specifically JPM, Barcap, CS, Jeffries, BAML, MS, GS, UBS in Houston.

Looking at exit ops, deal flow, prestige, and comments on culture if anyone works at these places.

 
jaw1:
Winning Squared:
Barclays CS JPM Jefferies/BAML MS/GS UBS

Why is it that BarCap and CS are on the top? Is it just the better placement or do they have overall better dealflow?

And does anyone have 2012 energy league tables. Was it basically this ranking above?

I don't have the actual numbers on me at the moment, but Barclays is always near the top of the oil and gas league tables both for M&A and equity issuance

Barclays inherited the Lehman team, which supposedly was one of the best (anecdotal - before my time)

If you look at M&A oil and gas league tables, you will see Barclays, CS, Citi, GS, JPM, Jefferies, BAML, RBC, BMO, and Tudor Pickering Holt (oil and gas E&P tables)...Morgan Stanley, UBS and DB (def UBS and DB) probably won't be top 10, at least for 2012....UBS and Wells Fargo will be there if you look at equity issuance league tables

Simmons doesn't make league tables b/c it is a smaller firm and often work on deals where the transaction value is not disclosed; it's well-regarded firm, especially in the oilfield services space.

 
jaw1:
Winning Squared:
Barclays CS JPM Jefferies/BAML MS/GS UBS

Why is it that BarCap and CS are on the top? Is it just the better placement or do they have overall better dealflow?

And does anyone have 2012 energy league tables. Was it basically this ranking above?

Global Oil & Gas M&A volume in 2012 was $348 Billion, this is the most in the past decade from 2002-2012, marking a 48% increase over 2011's volume.

Barclays had a 30% share in the global volume... Also, their analysts place phenomenally well.

 
Texas Outlaw:
Where do the boutiques (Simmons, TPH, Evercore, Greenhill, etc.) stack up against the BBs in the aforementioned categories?

Those specific boutiques are all great.

Simmons has great work/life balance and has had some analysts move on to PE. As mentioned above, very well regarded in the OFS space.

TPH has really solid deal flow, pretty good work/life balance and great placement lately.

Evercore has been killing it in the midstream space. Had an analyst land at Denham a year or two ago, but haven't seen much else in terms of placement other than that.

Greenhill hasn't really been on any notable deals, but every analyst has placed in PE (though they only take one a year).

jaw1:
Winning Squared:
Barclays CS JPM Jefferies/BAML MS/GS UBS

Why is it that BarCap and CS are on the top? Is it just the better placement or do they have overall better dealflow?

And does anyone have 2012 energy league tables. Was it basically this ranking above?

They are on top because of both deal flow and placement. Barclays has, without a doubt, the best deal flow. CS has great deal flow, but a little light on M&A. Pretty much all analysts for the last several years have placed at top PE shops for both firms.

jaw1:
How good are Barclays hours? How much more per week does CS work? And what about the other banks, better/worse hours?

Anyone have the actual league tables?

As mentioned above, Barclays has pretty good hours (especially considering deal flow). JPM and Jefferies have pretty good hours too. CS, MS, Citi and BAML have pretty bad hours.

Don't worry about league tables. You won't see Greenhill on any league tables, but they always place their analyst. As I mentioned above, Barclays and CS have perennially placed at top shops and have a great network in the PE world. TPH and Lazard have placed well lately. JPM, Citi, BAML and Simmons will place here and there. There are definitely some recent threads out there with more details on placement.

 
jack.daniels:
Looking at Citi vs CS vs MS. Sounds like CS is the best option, but Citi has much better hours? Which offer would you take? Is CS basically guaranteed placement?

All have bad hours. CS has better exit ops but Citi has better culture...from what I have heard MS is a bunch of nerds but I've never met anyone there.

 
txbanker342:
Dealogic league tables show CS as #1 in global oil and gas revenues for 2012...yeah, pick based on fit between them and Citi which is still pretty good for dealflow, not as good for placement, hours are similar. MS is not a good group in Houston and your dealflow will not be good.

Who was #2 and #3? Barc and Citi? Is Barclays usually first?

 
PossumBelly:
There was a thread on this like 3 months ago. I agree with everything i said then (+StringerBell).

And CS not only has the biggest nerds/bags of depression in town but the office has been wrecked at the senior levels.

What does "good culture" vs "bad culture" even mean? Aside from the difference in hours, everyone I've met in Houston has seemed similar and very work hard play hard attitude. I also don't think anyone seemed nerdy, some places are just more work-oriented than others.

 
jaw1:
PossumBelly:
There was a thread on this like 3 months ago. I agree with everything i said then (+StringerBell).

And CS not only has the biggest nerds/bags of depression in town but the office has been wrecked at the senior levels.

What does "good culture" vs "bad culture" even mean? Aside from the difference in hours, everyone I've met in Houston has seemed similar and very work hard play hard attitude. I also don't think anyone seemed nerdy, some places are just more work-oriented than others.

Good vs bad means guys in certain offices like to have more fun than others, aka are less work-oriented. This seems very simple to me.

 

CS and Barclays are usually up in the top 3 and both are great groups with great people...only drawback I could think of at BarCap is regarding the CEO changeover...it could mean anything for the overall firm this year...lot of risk going to a place in turmoil at the firm level...

 
txbanker342:
CS and Barclays are usually up in the top 3 and both are great groups with great people...only drawback I could think of at BarCap is regarding the CEO changeover...it could mean anything for the overall firm this year...lot of risk going to a place in turmoil at the firm level...

Interesting CS came on top this year given recent moves

 

Don't have access but someone at another group sent me this:

Dealogic 2012-2013YTD Energy Fees (All Products) C Barcap BAML MS UBS Wells GS JPM CS RBC

(power not included, so this is basically Houston except for the groups that execute more out of NY - GS for example))

That's fees. # of Deals is about the same order but Wells would be higher (ton of equity i'm sure)

Strictly M&A would look different and you'd see some of the boutiques higher, UBS certainly lower.

What is not included in any league tables kids: group size, culture, exit opps for the analysts (Barcap best but then highly dependent on individual analyst more than the group in my experience)

 
PossumBelly:
Don't have access but someone at another group sent me this:

Dealogic 2012-2013YTD Energy Fees (All Products) C Barcap BAML MS UBS Wells GS JPM CS RBC

(power not included, so this is basically Houston except for the groups that execute more out of NY - GS for example))

That's fees. # of Deals is about the same order but Wells would be higher (ton of equity i'm sure)

Strictly M&A would look different and you'd see some of the boutiques higher, UBS certainly lower.

What is not included in any league tables kids: group size, culture, exit opps for the analysts (Barcap best but then highly dependent on individual analyst more than the group in my experience)

There is no way this is accurate. Number of deals shows CS as first, Barcap second, and Citi third. This table is BS

 
jaw1:
PossumBelly:
Don't have access but someone at another group sent me this:

Dealogic 2012-2013YTD Energy Fees (All Products) C Barcap BAML MS UBS Wells GS JPM CS RBC

(power not included, so this is basically Houston except for the groups that execute more out of NY - GS for example))

That's fees. # of Deals is about the same order but Wells would be higher (ton of equity i'm sure)

Strictly M&A would look different and you'd see some of the boutiques higher, UBS certainly lower.

What is not included in any league tables kids: group size, culture, exit opps for the analysts (Barcap best but then highly dependent on individual analyst more than the group in my experience)

There is no way this is accurate. Number of deals shows CS as first, Barcap second, and Citi third. This table is BS

right... because number of deals necessarily has to sync with fee volume... oh, wait...

 
Best Response

Again that is by fees and, outside of the world of wide-eyed undergrads who mumbled their way through Houston last week in ill fitting suits, it is well known that cap markets generates nice fees on a very regular basis.

I have no idea how Dealogic calcs apportioned fees, nor do I know what triggers them to add a deal to a banks tally. It's not like some magic person pulls every filing and every single M&A deal, call up the firms, asks if they missed anything, and keeps a flawless database. The very methodology of M&A league tables is absurd as even if you were the 10th bank on a deal you get full league table credit (as far as total deal value is concerned). I'd guess you can throw a 25-50% premium on their deal number counts and be in the ballpark.

Don't fret though, every firm you talk to can show you a league table where they are #1. Be sure to hang it on your fridge.

 

I'm guessing you work for either BAML, UBS, or Wells. Probably not even Citi.

I agree that each bank can pull up a table where they are on top, but of all the tables you could possibly pull up - that one is the most ridiculous.

 
jaw1:
I'm guessing you work for either BAML, UBS, or Wells. Probably not even Citi.

I agree that each bank can pull up a table where they are on top, but of all the tables you could possibly pull up - that one is the most ridiculous.

I'm not sure what's so ridiculous about this table. It goes without saying that MS and GS are inherently going to have less fee share than many of the balance sheet banks like JPM, Citi, Wells or BAML. Barclays had a 30% share in global M&A so it stands to reason that they would be near the top as would Citi who had a solid year for M&A and does a substantial portion of revenue in cap mkts transactions. I will concede that CS looks a bit out of place that far down the list given how solid their M&A share was, but their announced deals saw them higher than the revenue earned on those deals. Additionally, they lag all the balance sheet banks on cap mkts, which typically yields more revenue than M&A.

This isn't all that surprising... not sure why you're so butt hurt by this. GS & MS don't tend to be traditionally strong oil and gas firms. Barcap and Citi do, as does Credit Suisse, but this doesn't look egregiously out of line to me given the deals I worked on this year in the E&P space... I dunno, maybe that's just me though. What did you see this year at your firm?

 
jaw1:
I'm guessing you work for either BAML, UBS, or Wells. Probably not even Citi.

I agree that each bank can pull up a table where they are on top, but of all the tables you could possibly pull up - that one is the most ridiculous.

Though I'm not endorsing the accuracy of the league tables ordered by fee revenues, the fact is that fee rankings often meaningfully differ from M&A volume. If CS in Houston focuses on M&A and doesn't work on as many capital markets deals, it isn't absurd to think that some of the other capital markets focused banks like BAML and Citi might have higher fees. For instance, if you look at the global league tables by M&A volume, you won't be surprised to find GS and MS on top. However, if you rank by fees, JPM and BAML lead the market almost every year.

The issue is, most prospective analysts don't care too much about IB fees or capital markets deals. Most want bona fide M&A experience, which is why M&A volume league tables are more ubiquitous.

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NorthSider:
jaw1:
I'm guessing you work for either BAML, UBS, or Wells. Probably not even Citi.

I agree that each bank can pull up a table where they are on top, but of all the tables you could possibly pull up - that one is the most ridiculous.

Though I'm not endorsing the accuracy of the league tables ordered by fee revenues, the fact is that fee rankings often meaningfully differ from M&A volume. If CS in Houston focuses on M&A and doesn't work on as many capital markets deals, it isn't absurd to think that some of the other capital markets focused banks like BAML and Citi might have higher fees. For instance, if you look at the global league tables by M&A volume, you won't be surprised to find GS and MS on top. However, if you rank by fees, JPM and BAML lead the market almost every year.

The issue is, most prospective analysts don't care too much about IB fees or capital markets deals. Most want bona fide M&A experience, which is why M&A volume league tables are more ubiquitous.

this exactly... couldn't have said it better

 

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