[Houston] Jefferies vs TPH (SA 2024)
Hi all - was extremely fortunate to receive SA offers a handful of firms and I've narrowed down my choices to Jefferies and TPH and am interested in learning a bit more about the deal flow and culture at both groups. For context, I'm interested in Energy (and potentially P&U) IB right now but I'm not sure if I want to be in the space for the long-term. Also not too interested in buy-side although I'd like to keep that door open for now.
Congrats on the offers - both are great places to start your career if you're interested in energy. Jefferies and TPH are both similar in that their deal flow tends to be driven by upstream A&D, although both are quite strong in midstream and TPH also has strong relationships with the supermajors, which is on the rarer side for a boutique in the space. Both groups also handle some ESG-related deals in Houston, which is quite different from most groups which tend to have energy transition based in NYC, so you'll be able to get exposure to that side at either group. Deal experience wise, the two places are arguably the strongest non-BBs in the space and both are off to a strong start for 2023, but it should be noted that you won't be getting much RX exposure at either place (all TPH deals and I believe all Jefferies Energy deals in RX are run out of NY) unlike some other independents down in Houston. Culture-wise, Jefferies is tough, and back when I was still in Houston a few years ago TPH had one of the better cultures down in Houston, although things may have changed since then. If you're interested in mobility/potentially switching coverage groups, TPH definitely takes the cake over Jefferies - know of several friends over the years that have been able to switch from TPH to PWP even for SA -> FT and PWP's traditionally encouraged internal mobility, whereas the process can be a bit more tough at Jefferies.
Both are strong groups on the deal flow side, would make your decision based on culture. Anecdotally always found the TPH folks to be a bit more chill and the Jefferies folks to be a bit more on the intense/hardo side. Also fwiw TPH has the nicest office I've ever been in.
Jefferies Houston is still a very sweaty and rough place, even by Houston standards. Personally would go with TPH.
People keep talking about the TPH culture like Bobby and gang are still there. Plot twist, they aren’t - the culture has deteriorated and frankly the deal flow has, too. They were on the EnCap OVV deal last week but that’s been about the extent of it recently for them. It’s an extremely bloated team and the face time culture is real. An intern last summer didn’t get a return because he wouldn’t stay until the wee hours every night even though he didn’t have anything to do. If PWP goes through layoffs there’s no way TPH goes through without a significant impact. Also, side note but a TPH analyst I was working across of was still using VLOOKUP lol.
On the other side, Jefferies has been on a roll and has continued being one of the best banks in energy IB. I don’t think there’s a better bank to work at in Houston for the reps (maybe RBC). The exits are really great too (in the most recent class there’s people going to Carnelian, Quantum (multiple), Sixth Street amongst others. Also know of at-least two people that had a 100% interview to offer rate in PE recruiting. Pretty sure they also send an analyst to NY to go join the LevFin group based on what friends have said. I don’t think it’s a secret that the hours are bad but honestly
Would rather work those hours than sit around doing nothing at TPH with the face time culture.
Wasn’t TPH also in the Whistler pipeline deal a bit back? Quick league table pull shows TPH at 7 days so far this year and Jefferies at 6, with TPH also ahead on deal value, so hard to say that they’re not keeping somewhat busy.
Don’t know which league tables you are looking at but the league tables I have in front of me has Jefferies ranked No. 1.
Anyone who's claiming that Jefferies has a better culture than TPH (even though TPH's culture has degraded from 3-4 years back) is either a Jefferies shill or a prospect who bought the shills' messages. Jefferies Houston is still absolutely brutal, and you will not make it more than the standard 2-year stint here unless you have a certain personality type.
Associate at Houston BB who has no horse in this race. Not sure what "AnAlYsT 1" above is talking about, TPH is very well-known for having great deal flow and exits in Houston and in NY infrastructure. I know TPH is in office 4 days a week, so there can't be a huge facetime culture... heard at JEFF you need to show up by 9 AM everyday.
I am biased against JEFF though, their folks are some of the most unpleasant people I've ever met, wouldn't hesitate to throw you under the bus if they had an opportunity to, overall on par with JPM. Best EB cultures in Houston are TPH, Piper, and Lazard.
Don’t think it’s a comparison between TPH and JEF.
Deal flow: JEF
Pay: JEF
Energy Exits: JEF
Culture (and this is where I’ll get heat so will touch on this below): JEF
The only thing TPH will be better at is maybe lateraling internally to NY
What people get wrong about the energy group is the fact that the hours are what they are due to the deal flow. There aren’t sharp elbows (no bucketing at analyst level), it’s a collegial environment and the juniors are really close. TPH has the hours because of the face time. If you look at the deal flow, over the past 3-5 years, Jefferies has TPH beat (specially given Jefferies does a lot more undisclosed transactions). Obviously with a lean Junior team, the per capita deal flow is that much bigger. That’s why the hours suck. Not because the seniors want the juniors in the office every day. JEF literally turns down so many bake-offs because it gets conflicted out of the processes. If you are interested in energy, I don’t think there’s a better shop than JEF - top upstream and midstream teams, pay extremely well for top talent, and want you to stay, but if you don’t then you’ll get the best exits.
Definitely disagree on the pay and culture font - the environment at Jefferies is only "collegial" in the sense that it's a bit of an "us-against-them" mentality between juniors and mid-level people, and because of how tough the hours are. Most of the juniors are more on the intense and introverted side compared to a lot of other banks and there isn't as much genuine friendship at the junior level. I've heard from friends and my roommate who works at TPH that it's the opposite over there - juniors are actually genuinely close. Also, Jefferies is very much haves v. have nots on comp front, especially as you go up in seniority. They have a few guys who make absurd $ - probably the highest paid at their position of any bank in the world and that is not an exaggeration. And when they recruit they like to throw those numbers around (which is annoying when recruiting against them). But that is a very tiny crew and is definitely not indicative of the group as a whole. Something to keep in mind is that the Jefferies Houston team is huge, and when you factor in all bankers + the technical crew there's a lot of heads sharing the comp pool (which isn't necessarily as large as you think because the OG crew takes a big cut and Jefferies often proposes fees far lower than what other banks do).
Lol what TPH definitely doesn't have much face time (source: roommate works there and is almost always back home before I am)
ITT: A couple of Jefferies juniors dying on a hill shilling for Jefferies against a bunch of other bankers including another Jefferies banker who has a more jaded view.
At the end of the day both firms are great and are the 2 best non-BBs on the street that pay higher comp than most other Houston groups (lol at the comment above no VP at either group made millions this year), have good deal flow, exit well, and OP your decision should 100% be down to culture. Jefferies has traditionally had a very rough culture, and while things may have improved, I can guarantee you that based on how much I interact with the office a lot of the drivers of that rough culture are still around and acting like a-holes. On the other hand, TPH has traditionally had relatively good culture relative to street, but with the founders retiring that very well could have changed. It's up to you OP to have more conversations with people at either firm to get a good feel for culture.
Let this thread be a de facto datapoint on oil and gas deal activity in 2023 - holy hell some of your juniors are complaining about league tables and firm websites