According to DealLogic, WFS is 3rd in LevLoans and 6th in HY. How are they ranked so highly? I get that they are a massive balance sheet bank, but they have capital constraints and weaker coverage groups, right?
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They are not good. Just balance sheet bank with revolver exposure to corporates, especially BB rated. They lead some deals, but are mostly on the right. When looking at levfin league tables, I almost exclusively focus on single B lead left title, both for loan and bond. I feel that BB deals are just very easy to execute and not that interesting.
Where do you look at these league tables? Deal logic? How do you stratify like this?
Dealogic. For FY20 HY single B, ranking was Barcap/GS/BAML/CS/MS/JPM. In that order. Market shares were very close. Barclays 11% clear on top, then rest on the 9-7%. Similarly, for Sponsor-backed leveraged loans ranking was CS/Barcap/GS/Jefferies/MS/JPM. CS at top with 8%, JPM at bottom with 6%. So all very close. Hope this helps!
Money is money and they are one of the few banks that can underwrite the giant deals
Slightly agree with both posters above. I have heard with the new CEO there has been more of a focus on single B lead left, deviating from the ultra-conservative WF culture of the past.
Do you think they do much modeling in the group? I know only a few LevFin groups on the street actually model.
Wells levfin does not model. Source: friend who works in PE who did his analyst stint in wells levfin
Because contrary to what finmemes and undergrad students on WSO say, WF is still in the upper-quartile of investment banks and like someone above said, is one of the only banks big enough to stomach multi-billion $ underwritings.
That’s simply not true, but whatever. Talk to your syndicate desk.
Bruv I’m not saving they’re Top 5, even Top 10. They sit somewhere between BBs/EBs and the Stifels of the world. That, to me, is still top quartile. People act like they’re a complete joke but they still get lead left mandates on massive deals, albeit mostly cap markets and not a whole lot of M&A action.
They are not between EB & BB but much better than banks like Stifel. Given my experience pitching against them and speaking with people there - it's a great place to start your career with constant deal flows. They've improved a lot in group placement / eliminate some constraints on which deals they won't participate since Charlie Scharf became CEO in 2019.
That being said, I'd call them BB-to-be but that doesn't mean a college student should take them over top MM bank like RBC/JEF, as it always about deals per capita just like you can't compare deal volumes between JPM and Centerview.
Fair take. That’s what I meant to say regarding being below BB/EBs but above the Stifels of the world. (No offense - Stifel is great as well)
I work at BAML / JPM and we compete directly with Wells on many financing deals. I can't speak to the M&A side of the business, but for debt financing Wells Fargo is top along with JPM and BAML, obviously given its balance sheet. If the ranking is pertaining to only leveraged finance and loan syndication, then Wells Fargo is top 5 IMO.
I'm actually curious - how do you win bake offs in LevFin? I'm sure it's a variety of factors, but are the loans typically very customized, or are most loans generally very similar and the client picks a large bank that gives them the best covenant package?
It's a lot of stuff to uncover here, so I will create a new post talking about this. The topic could be good info for people exploring opportunity in loan syndication since not a lot of info on this site.
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