Lateraling as analyst-Less relevant group with lots of deal flow vs relevant group with none??
Recently finished as a summer analyst in a LevFin group of a large non-BB bank (BMO, WFS, RBC) in their east coast office. Not wanting to risk ending up with nothing, I accepted a full time offer to comply with exploding offer deadline. Problem is, I don't want to do debt long term and I don't find the work that interesting. The group has a lot of deal flow but it's overwhelmingly refi's and pro rata type stuff with very little to no sponsor work. My biggest problem (and the main reason I don't find it interesting) is that almost all of the analysis/modeling is done outside of the group.
I'm considering seeing if it's possible to try to lateral to a coverage group within the bank before I start full time (in my industry of choice). The problem is, that group has little to no deal flow. My ultimate goal is PE, and if I can't get any serious looks in my first year, I am planning on trying to lateral.
The question is this: when other banks are looking at my candidacy for lateraling, what is more important: having a lot of deal experience (essentially, closed a lot of pro rata refi's) or that I already proved my interest (by choosing that industry group), current in-depth knowledge of the industry, and understanding of valuations in that industry (even if you're only pitching, you still are learning about the industry, relevant metrics, valuation techniques, etc) but with likely very little deal experience? How hard is it to lateral as a first year analyst from LevFin to a coverage or M&A group?
Would the answer be different if my hope would be to lateral to an EB that doesn't ever utilize a balance sheet?
Thanks to everyone for your thoughts!
bump
Hey man - sorry to bump this post but I was searching thru lateraling threads because I'm in a really similar boat. Interned at a very similar global bank that was balance sheet heavy but not great deal flow in coverage groups in general. I did FT recruiting and while didn't receive another offer, met a lot of contacts and got good advice for lateraling - am returning to the bank I interned with for FT.
I spoke to an alumni who is an MD at Centerview about this actually, and he said that compared to even other EBs (Evercore, Lazard, etc.), Centerview is even more focused on pure strategy work for their clients so take this as an extreme example. But he insisted that the work is therefore so different than what an analyst at a BS bank would be doing that the only real way to look attractive as a candidate is to rephrase and frame your experience in as much of a strategic/pure M&A way as possible to prove that you're capable of thinking in that way. I know a couple kids at the bank I interned with who lateraled to EBs full time, and they were both in the M&A group.
On the other hand, also spoke with a couple alumni in coverage groups at BBs, and they all seemed to emphasize that the most important thing for lateraling was transaction experience that you could talk about, and that if there was relatively poor deal flow in a specific group, to try and avoid even if you wanted to lateral in a similar coverage group elsewhere.
Hope that helps and good luck
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