LA Investment Banking Scene?
There hasn't been a thread on this in a long time and was curious how things have changed.
I would assume MoCo generalist still remains the best group with HL RX LA the second, but I know nothing about any of the other BBs or EBs groups there.
Would love to hear your thoughts and insight.
Some quick comments in no particular order.. Happy to clean up and add more detail when I get back to my computer.
BBs
Credit Suisse (Gaming & Lodging + Sponsors)
BAML (Generalist - FIG, Media, EGRC, C&R)
Barclays (Sponsors + Consumer Retail)
MS (Consumer, FIG, Regal, others?)
GS (Consumer and Healthcare)
Citi (Metals and Mining Global HQ + Transportation)
EBs / Others
Moelis (Generalist; A lot of media)
Lazard (Mostly A&D but just added a new Video Game MD)
PWP (Industrials; Small office)
Rothschild (edit: consumer, tech M&A)
HL (RX and Biz Services M&A and TMT M&A; RX and M&A are distinct groups which recruit separately)
Lincoln International (Regional M&A; Great A&D MD as well)
Wells Fargo (Regional M&A)
Deloitte Corporate Finance
Raymond James
Ducera (RX)
You can’t go wrong with any shops in LA. In order to support the office, they need to have strong MDs. However the major differentiation in your experience will be based on a few factors 1) size of the office 2) If the office is a Satellite or an HQ/Quasi-HQ 3) Industry Focus 4) Office Location (Downtown or Century City; may be biased but Century city is far better IMO)
Source: I’m an Associate in LA
Thanks for all the information. Do you have any more knowledge of different groups at Citi? I heard that they had a strong M&A group and maybe an industrial group from a friend but I've never seen anything about those groups on previous threads. It doesn't seem that UBS is doing well in California with the migration of its tech team and Moelis in the past but any insight on them either?
So the Citi Industrials team is the Metals and Mining and Transportation (they fall under the industrials bucket), M&A execution is handled by these teams as well for these industries.
For UBS, your assessment is correct. They never fully recovered after Ken left and started Moelis. I don’t know if they even have an IBD office anymore.
Super lean team w/~12 people total & 1 MD aka their Head. Great culture since most want to be life-long bankers and stay on as Associates
Rothschild LA focuses on consumer / tech M&A
Do you know where I can find past transactions from their LA group? I can't find it on their website.
Barclays LA is just sponsors now - C&R MD left for New York
Nah he was poached my Moelis lol
Now as a Sponsors-only office, Barclays LA 2nd year analyst class just finished recruiting: Oaktree, Bain, and Freeman Spogli (NYC). Hasn't hurt exits (may even help).
Rothschild has some tech verticals.
.
BAML is Generalist but you can break it down to FIG, Media, EGRC, C&R (new Vice Chairman in office). Also MS Consumer MD left to JPM
Macquarie’s LA office has a strong gaming team
Why does an LA office need a strong MD in order to function?
+ Ducera RX to this list
There are 2 more MM groups in LA - Deloitte Corporate Finance and Raymond James
And I forgot to mention 1 more MM bank - there's also Macquarie
Know which city JPMs office is in?
Is Moelis LA still good?
Yes, still one of the top on the Street. A quick LinkedIn search would show that their recent exits are Centerbridge, KKR, Apollo, Warburg, Ares, LGP, Advent, Oaktree, Levine, Newlight, Brentwood, Marlin, Levine, Bx, CapitalG, Silver Lake, Cerberus…
Your 'recent' exits include historical exits dating back to 2013. I personally know a few of them as we were close friends from the same target school (think it's pretty self explanatory where we went) and they would've landed at these shops regardless of where they banked. I'm going to get a ton of MS because college freshman and high school seniors love Moelis but frankly, I think the quality of exits + analysts have fallen off in the past 3 years with a good chunk of analysts going to random MMs in T3 cities (Do a LinkedIn search before arguing with me) The Wharton kids who land at Centerbridge would have ended up there regardless of where they did their analyst stint. Despite my title, I do associate recruiting for my NY-based MF/UMM PE fund and we bucket Moelis LA along with the other independent advisory shops + BBs - no special preference. Don't get me wrong, you'll do well if you go to MoCo, but I don't think you'll do any worse by going to any other firm. Quality of exit is completely dependent on you as a person and not on where you spent the past 3 months of your analyst stint
Can confirm that the exits from Moelis LA are still unreal given how small their class is.
Recent exits for CS LA include Silver lake, Warburg, Genstar, LGP, Ares, Clearlake, Francisco. essentially all analysts who want to exit to PE get a gig
Exits are strong but I disagree with the second sentence. Know an analyst there that went through PE recruiting, struck out, and is now going to corp dev.
Unsure who you're talking about, but there's also off cycle recruiting to land an offer
Know this analyst as well and know others with bad experiences being interviewed by him.
To person who we were discussing, “Economist in PE”, thanks for DMing me. the reason CS LA has a high acceptance rate is because they take UC kids, BYU/Utah kids or random Asian girls that wanna be close to home and don’t even understand what IB is when they apply via diversity.
You are not getting top talent so naturally you’ll have a high acceptance rate. I literally turned down an offer so not sure why you’re touting this to brag, since you’re clearly the person who.
“Private Equity in LA is competitive”. No shit it will be for non target kids who go to a satellite office and only do casino advisory. I can confirm that the person you are referring to, who took an extra year at a sweatshop because he couldn’t land ANYTHING (was struggling at mediocre MM shops), did not get a “top offer”. Thanks for taking the time to DM me 5 paragraphs and congrats on somehow getting out of IB
Historically they have strong exits, but how recent are these? All I've seen for this class are LMM or no exit.
clearlake / francisco are both from the most recent class and rest within past 3
Can anyone comment on lifestyle/living costs/shit to do outside of work?
Far cheaper CoL than NYC. Still an expensive place but you can find a nice apartment much larger than the classic NYC shoebox for $600-$1000 cheaper per month.
Main differentiation is transportation. Have to factor having a car, since its the only realistic way to get around.
Surprised about CoL, would a place like that be right in city area with all the skyscrapers and whatnot (I assume this is downtown)?
LA native, so totally agree on having to have a car. Did my SA stint in NY though - so do you guys take advantage of those free Uber's at 2am or do you guys just whip back to your apartment tired as shit?
Any insight into Lazard LA’s office? (culture, exit opps, etc.)
Fratty. That’s all I got to say.
Any insight on PWP LA? Deal flow, reputation, pay, exits
New office, ex-BAML industrials rainmaker heads the office, Small group but growing
Any thoughts on HL RX LA exits/reputation?
Not as strong as top-tier NY office, but it is still HL RX so very good exits and reputation in the rx world - considered one of the best offers you can get in LA
Do they do any MBA recruiting?
The larger groups do take MBA Associates. I've seen Barclays, BofA, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, and Moelis do MBA recruiting. This list is not exhaustive but it is safe to say almost all the large banks will recruit.
Every single bank or advisory listed in the top comment recruits associates through MBA programs.
How has Moelis vulture changed recently? Heard they’re a sweatshop but have also read that hours are slightly better now.
Does anyone have some LM-MM boutiques names with great culture?
Ocean park has a great culture - one of the best boutiques to do your sophomore summer internships. Recently an associate there lateraled to PWP so you’ll also get good deal experience
Sage Group does consumer M&A. Base pay raised and in line with NYC street and good culture.
Imperial Capital is also a good firm with great culture
What are exits like from Imperial Capital?
Heard JPM is trying to grow the IB presence in LA. Any insights?
bump
I think their office is mainly just senior bankers who want to work out of LA. Maybe one or two analysts
Any insights into how Moelis LA has been doing recently?
S
How’s PJT’s LA office?
Can anyone comment on FocalPoint Partners? Seems like a decently sized shop.
It’s a place that’s popular for sophomore summer internships. Would place b Riley above focal point based on their growth in 2021
Any other recommendations for boutiques in LA/SD that provide solid experience & pay other than B Riley?
and 3 weeks later b riley acquires focalpoint ...
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