Is M. Klein elite?

What's the updated opinion on M. Klein? Some of the threads are old and don't cover much. Overall sentiment is that it's super target focused elite boutique.

Have a super day with them vs. 2nd Tier BB (think CS/Citi)

59 Comments
 

Pasting the below from thread a couple days ago.

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M. Klein is highly underrated. My buddy's cousin worked there for 2 years and her experience was strong. Heard she met/worked with some global heavy hitters..Larry Summers, Yasir Al-Rum (PIF head), Tony Blair... i understand they are on the firm's advisory board.

Comp was materially above market back in 2019 - not sure what is now. Deal flow is insane, mostly all headline deals and get to work on investing too. Apparently travel globally for work, Saudi, Russia, Argentina. Fly first class. 3x meals covered in the office.

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Don’t know who this chick is who supposedly thinks banking is flying to Dubai with Richard Branson. This will not be your experience - the firm is known for relationship hires, so not sure if she was one and there for something beyond her financial acumen  

From a friend who spent quite a bit of time there, your life will be hell. You will be abused, have limited resources, get comped below market, and regularly be working 100+ hr weeks

That being said, you will get exposure on a (very) lean deal team to some of the most unique and high profile m&a and strategic assignments in this business

 
Most Helpful

Can confirm:

1) its ultra sweaty; even MDs pull all-nighters ocassionally

2) quality/size of deals are second to none; every single deal is a GLOBAL headline deal.. they rarely touch deals $2B  

3) Complexity of deals is second to none; get exposure to sophisticated investing and advisory deals; quality of analysts/associates is high and extremely sharp team (with sharp elbows) 

4) fast-paced and high profile nature of deals combined with a very lean deal team leads to very low tolerance for errors and a very tough culture

5) not too friendly towards analysts recruiting for PE (that was 2019 though so things might've changed)

6) comp is materially above market

7) Health benefits are not great 

8) Super target focused because many of their presentations have banker profiles in appendix (including analysts) 

9) Stress levels are very high

 10) Overall the exposure/experience you get as a junior is very solid - very lean deal teams, so you are forced to develop strong executive management and modeling skills...but may the lord save you if you can't get out on time  

I lived through all 10 points above. Not as employee, but as a SO to an employee there.  

 

I understand they have a lot of deal volume too. So they’re not just working on 1 deal a year. They also have retainers with clients as they’re also a “strategic advisory” firm … similar to a consulting company.

 

SMH. Sounds great for 2-3 years as a learning experience during your physical prime. 

From reading comments above, it definitely has the feel that Klein is a loyal/controlling/narcissistic person who believes his firm is the best firm in the world hands-down and acts accordingly.  

I would actually love to work there for the analyst/associate years. Experience is impossible to replace. 

 

M. Klein exits: Ares, KKR FIG, Advent, BX TacOpps, CVC, Carlyle, Crestview, Sycamore, Roark, Baring Private Equity, Oak Hill, EQT, Digital Bridge, Brookfield

Placement is ridiculously next level given they take 3-4 analysts/year

(Reposting from another thread)

 

That's kind of underwhelming given all the hype around m klein being this super secretive firm that's doing megadeals all the time

it's on par or marginally better than the other EBs

 

yeah if that's just the top half or two-thirds then thats really underwhelming. I'd go with the Citi/Bofa in a heartbeat and never think twice

 

As someone who has been on the receiving end of advice from them but not from Klein himself, totally underwhelming and found their mid-level bankers to be extremely abrasive and generally low-EQ. Sorry to say as I strive to not speak poorly of any firm here but my experience with them was pretty awful... 

 

I’ve worked across them on 2 deals and i think they’re quite sharp elbowed so typically aren’t the most polite to the other side.

Also Klein holds very close relationships with the top guys in the upper echelons of this business so presumably the mid level bankers don’t need to smooze clients at all levels.

Klein team has been quite sharp, in my experience at least

 

They're sharp and all, not commenting on their abilities or their intellect. But yeah, their mid-level folks were incredibly rude on calls often times, they would often times knock at ops or other non-deal folks during diligence calls without reading the situation that they were not used to diligence work... We had senior people intervene a lot telling them to back off in the process I was in when it came to them being on the same zoom call as the non-deal people who were supporting dilly calls. Was nuts 

 

WLB is about to get much better for the folks there, anyone has news about what will happen?

 

Networked with a guy who worked there several years ago. Said tc was $250K for 2nd year analyst. Atrocious. Comp will for sure go down

 

They postion themselves as ultra high touch advisors who work with the most powerful people on earth. Whale hunting model so insane hours. Pay is good but not as high as Ardea or Dyal. Exits are good but not RSSG level despite having a smaller and more pedigreed class. Definitely much more elite than midtier BB but there are definitely better IB analyst programs than this in terms of pay or exits.

 

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