Lazard or Rothschild & Co

Thank you for your explanations, but why go through M&A to move into private equity? I’ve noticed that many profiles secure an internship in private equity during their master’s and then continue directly in the field without necessarily going through M&A.

if you're in the US, Lazard. if you're in the EU they are quite equal in terms of exits - but I've heard that return offer rate for Lazard is quite low in comparison for their summers. 

For US Lazard has the edge, even though they have been underperforming over the last few years. For EU it's more balanced I would say - Both are considered the top EBs over there

In Europe RTH >= LAZ. Laz has been doing smaller and smaller deals over the last few years, with lots of senior bankers jumping ship (similarly, NYC RX outflow). Would personally take Rothschild on the basis that deal size is now similar (historically RTH did more MM, but has grown) and trajectory is more positive than for Lazard.

In the US, take LAZ - RTH doesn’t have the global presence, does mostly MM deals and doesn’t seem to want to expand further in the US.