How is PJT Partners almost two years post BX spinoff?
Any opinions on that? It's been almost 2 years since the spinoff from Blackstone. How is PJT as a place to work? Deal flow? "Preftige"? Culture? Analyst class? Exit opps?
Still one of the most well-regarded advisory shops on the Street.
I will say though that given what I've seen/heard from my school in the last couple years, they've gone somewhat bottom-feeding to get talent as they try to scale up their class sizes and haven't been able to yield the guys they wanted. From what I heard, they took three kids for SA this year but lost out to us and the other BBs on some kids, and notably lost a kid they really wanted to Moelis.
But yeah still very good PE exits and solid shop. Outside of RX though, terms of reputation, deal flow, etc, I would still rank Evercore, Moelis, Lazard and Centerview a step above.
I would say this guy has a huge chip on his shoulders from being rejected by a few EBs and constantly doubts his decision of going to BAML instead of Lazard. If his posts were at all accurate (just from memory here), he must be hating his living arrangement sharing a flat with a PJT guy who earns a lot more than him and most probably did better in this past recruitment cycle.
In NYC, of the 13 SAs who got return offers all but one accepted. That one decided to go to a BB on the west coast instead because he wanted to do pure tech. This included people turning down top BBs and other top EBs.
I know of at least 3 people who picked PJT over EVR. I also know at least two people who took EVR over PJT. I don't personally know anyone who has taken Moelis over either PJT or EVR (i'm sure they exist, I just don't think that's common). All are fantastic shops, can't go wrong any way you go, but they are entirely different experiences. EVR advisory is almost 6x the size of PJT advisory. Moelis is over double the size. They all have very different strengths. PJT doesn't even cover every vertical yet. EVR is significantly more BB like in terms of how they train, staff, and execute (that can be both good and bad, depending on your personality). Moelis is more of an established steady state EB.
In terms of the others talking about deal size and what not, they don't seem to work in the industry. When someone says "they don't work on as many headline deals" I immediately assume they are in college still. The number of headline deals is a ludicrous way to judge what you will be working on because bank sizes are so different. EVR and Moelis take almost 50 analysts every year and PJT takes 15, of course they are on a different number of deals every year. The key is how many headline deals are they doing per employee. Case in point:
A quick look at factset gives me the below numbers for so far in Q1 2018 (In the US): Moelis: 13 deals at an average deal size of $450m Evercore: 16 deals at an average deal size of $1.5b PJT: 3 deals at an average deal size of $4.4b
Using the above analyst numbers that's between .2 and .3 deals per analyst class size, so not entirely all that different. All three have worked on only really one deal this year that have been front page news in the WSJ. Maybe two in the case of EVR and PJT.
PJT will be more cyclical by industry as they grow (since they don't cover all industries) but it's obviously not true that they aren't on a level within the industries they cover. And growth seems to be happening, as far as I can tell. You can't go wrong with any of these shops, But I simply don't think comments like the one "TrackBack" wrote are comments that have industry knowledge.
Also, I do think Centerview is probably #1, and then it's few shops bunched together.
I would agree with the previous statement that they are still very well-regarded. Personally, I think the firm lost a bit of prestige compared to when it was known as Blackstone Advisory, but that's just my subjective opinion. The restructuring unit is apparently doing very well and is definitely considered as one of the best places (besides HL and LAZ). The advisory unit hired quite a lot of new senior people from other banks, but I don't think PJT is as good as the other EBs yet in this area. This might change going forward as they were able to advise on a few pretty big deals (e.g. 21st Century Fox/Sky). I heard this also led to a change in lifestyle for analysts, who enjoyed a slightly more relaxed life when it was BX.
I definitely don't agree with the poster above re: behind other EBs.
Recruiting wise, I only can tell you what i've heard through others, but the PE recruiting hasn't really missed a beat. It's slightly worse then before just because of the growing class sizes but we are talking still at or very near the top of the heap. In terms of attracting talent from schools, again its's at or near the top. Slightly worse off then before as they've broadened their search, but still most of the classes are top talent from the top schools.
Restructuring is basically unchanged in terms of what it was at Blackstone. The vast majority of the leadership is the same as before and it is still, in many peoples opinions, the best debtor side shop on the street (with HL being the best creditor side). I can't imagine taking Lazard rx over PJT like the poster above mentioned. I believe they were number one in US announced in 2016.
On the Advisory side, they are already growing into a bigger enterprise then they ever were before. The amount of stud senior bankers they hired in the last 18 months is set to blow up the business over the next couple years (remember it generally takes 12-18 months for a senior banker to fully make a transition and for that move to pay off for the firm). They finished 24th in announced and 23rd in completed Americas M&A last year, with less headcount in the advisory business among all the EBs besides Centerview. In Q1 this year they are up to 22nd in Americas announced and only behind Evercore, Lazard, and Centerview among the EBs. And the former 2 have headcount that is between 10x and 20x PJT. In terms of headline grabbing deals, in 2016 they advised on Fox/Sky, Lionsgate/Starz, Yahoo/Verizon, NBC/Dreamworks, and were on Anbang/Starwood before it fell through.
All in all, I think the evidence points to it still being in that top tier of EBs (Centerview, Lazard, Evercore, PJT) for advisory and restructuring. With the advisory business having as much growth potential as any EB on the street.
How is PJT as a place to work?
Apparently great - better hours than most other EBs / BBs but worse than when it was Blackstone Advisory given the increased deal flow since the spinoff
Deal flow?
In RX they basically get a mandate in every case, mostly on the debtor side, which is the most attractive one. In M&A they are still increasing deal flow and hired a ridiculous amount of top senior bankers...
"Preftige"?
People outside of finance have no idea what PJT is but within Finance it is still very well regarding and most likely the top EB out there.
Analyst class? Exit opps?
Larger than BX advisory but exit ops have not changed at all, still sending almost everyone to the top funds out there.