Lazard Houston??

Lazard Houston is decent in terms of deal flow, prestige, pay, etc. I have heard that they pay street, but not 100% sure. Don't know if I would take other BB's in Houston (JPM, GS, MS, LEH) or even weaker top tiers (CS, UBS, Jeffries) over them, but, again, I am not 100% sure.

They work you like dogs - they do restructuring, energy, and M&A advisory deals there.

Anybody else want to chime in?

I'm not sure about pay but I hear that they pay at least street or above street.

The top BBs in Houston are CS, UBS, and Leh. From what I hear from the MDs in Houston (regardless of their bank), this is the consensus.

Lazard Houston's deal flow is roughly 50% energy and 50% general (includes industrials, airlines). I hear they are getting 2 new MDs in at the beginning of next year, so deal flow will definitely pick up.

It's a pure M&A shop, no financing, so I doubt its deal flow was hit very hard by the credit market. If you're interested in Houston, Simmons & Co is another pure energy play M&A shop that has a great reputation in that industry and amazing work hours (also pay above street).

Like balooga said, they work pretty hard, but I think Lazard analysts have a strong reputation because of this as well.

Of course Lazard has a great name, but the Houston office leaves a lot to be desired. It's a relatively new office, so in time, I'm sure deal flow will pick up. But as of now, it's clearly below the top banks in Houston. LEH, CS, and UBS are far and away the best banks in Houston.

Let me just follow-up on a couple of certain points here since I’ve been getting several PM’s. IMO, Lazard’s Houston office is no less prestigious than its NY office. One of the great things about Lazard is that it is a boutique/MM firm that works you as a BB analyst, or even moreso. From what I’ve heard, Houston analysts do not work any less than NY analysts. Secondly, the Lazard name is widespread, just as the Goldman name is widespread. Lazard Houston is just as prestigious as Lazard NY, for those of you who care about that. With that being said, if I had offers from Lazard, Leh, CS, and UBS, I would take them in this order: Lehman, UBS, Lazard, CS, Simmons, JPM, Scotia Waterous, ML/MS, GS Lehman’s culture is great- one of the best places to work, and their deal flow/reputation is great as well. UBS has a good culture and pretty good deal flow/rep. Lazard speaks for itself, although they don’t focus on as much energy as the other banks do. That might be a problem for those of you who want to stay in that area for banking. Transitioning from a Lazard to a Riverstone or First Reserve would be a bit tougher b/c the lack of concentrated exposure to energy deals. I might be wrong on this, but this is my intuition. Overall, the Lazard office is still a great place to work. After that is CS because of its lack of work-life balance. The bankers I know there always try to make time on weekends for certain events, but seem to always either forget or get bogged down in work. The hours are absolutely ridiculous. This is not from firsthand experience, but rather, from what I have heard. Simmons is a strictly energy boutique with a great reputation. They pay above street, from what I hear. Scotia Waterous is another energy boutique with a pretty good rep. I believe JPM moved a lot of their ops into their new building a couple years ago, but I might be wrong. ML has a decent group with a couple of friendly VP/MD’s, although their juniors might not be as legit. The people I’ve met and interacted with from MS/GS/ML definitely are not as legit as their NY counterparts. GS has a great Industrials group in NY, though, and I am sure that their NY and Houston offices work together on many of their deals. Keep in mind that GS and ML source deals. They send them back up to Houston- a very frustrating process, from my perspective. Leh/UBS/CS/MS,JPM are the only BB’s that keep deals in Houston. I am not 100% sure about JPM, but I am relatively certain. If anybody else has any pertinent info to chime in, that would really help my PM inbox.

Baloogafish is dead on for the most part. Except that Scotia Waterous would be at the end of the list in my opinion. Tudor Pickering might be worthy of getting on the list too.

Also, I think that baloogafish meant to say that MS/GS/ML source deals in Houston and send them back to NY. I think JPM might do the same thing too, but not sure.

It is worth mentioning that if you are not interested in working in energy and/or Houston, GS and MS should probably be at the top of your list over the others. GS & MS are not top 3 in Houston, but their name is still tops elsewhere.

Have heard scarcely of Tudor, but not much of it. MS sources deals in Houston and keeps them there- as far as what I've been told. Of course, this could all be wrong- the only bankers I know from there aren't your typical WS bankers.

I'm not so sure about that last statement- while name does trump city, I just think that the GS/MS aren't nearly as good as their name suggests. I would still take Leh Houston over GS/MS, even for leaving Houston. Having that group on your resume will do nothing but wonders for your resume. Lazard is also a great option, as they place people in top b schools (think Harvard and Stanford) consistently.

BTW, back to the original topic, Lazard Houston will be a SWEATSHOP in the near future with the acquisition of Bruce Bilger. He is one of the current heads at Vinson and Elkins and is heading over to Lazard at the end of this year- not sure if he is the greatest banker- but he will definitely have TONS of contacts in the energy field. Will definitely up their prestige, deal flow, esp. in the energy side, hours, etc. etc. etc. Would not be surprised if Lazard Houston became the premier shop in Texas.

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