Jefferies vs Harris Williams vs Houlihan Lokey
Among these middle market firms, what is the best option in terms of prestige, pay, PE exit opps, and deal flow?
Among these middle market firms, what is the best option in terms of prestige, pay, PE exit opps, and deal flow?
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Depends on group and office... but from friends I know interning w/ these banks I'd say:
1) Jefferies 2) HL 3) HW
Jefferies I hear has really tough hours but does have the best deal flow and has a couple solid coverage/product groups. Pretty awesome culture it seems.
HL is KNOWN for RX and SS but has a couple other solid groups... again pretty solid bank w/ solid placement. Not quite the deal flow of Jefferies BUT if it's the RX group I'd say it's the best place to be (maybe across the street) esp. if you're interested in distressed credit/PE.
HW is the only one w/o a NY office and from my understanding geography has a hand in PE placements... if you're all in HQ's (HW being Richmond) then you're prob more likely to be pigeonholed down South (not necessarily).
HW's HQ doesn't affect the ability of their Analysts getting PE placements, many of them end up outside of the South and they're a pure M&A shop as opposed to HL which as you said, is particularly strong in RX, still decent M&A pipeline though.
If you have offers from all three places you should go to which firm fits you best and where you think you would most "enjoy" working IBD hours. All 3 have solid deal flow and would open doors to most MM PE funds and I'd expect comp to be very similar. I'd actually say HW might have an edge over HL in PE placement because senior bankers are known to help analysts in recruiting. Definitely consider if you prefer the HW location you got an offer from (if different). HL restructuring is entirely different and I'm assuming that's not what you have an offer from. Additionally I'm not sure Jefferies has a reputation for awesome culture and I've heard some bad stories, although you could probably find bad stories from any bank.
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