London EB's - Which to take for exits 2023?
I am lucky enough to have offers from a few boutique firms in London (HL/Laz/EVR/PWP/Roths). I feel very fortunate to even be in this position and want to make the best decision possible to maximise my future career prospects.
Long term, I'd love to enter PE and would like to choose the best firm from the EB's for exits. If anyone could provide a generalised ranking/insights this would be extremely appreciated.
Thank you.
Lazard >= Roths > EVR = PWP > HL
Not to hijack this thread but where would PJT fit into this?
In the UK, pretty comfortably above EVR and a bit below Roths IMO but it's down to personal preference in terms of RX vs M&A.
If RX is preferred, it's clear.
People always like to talk about PJT's London Office being subpar among the EB's in the UK. However, PJT only take an extremely small analysis class and is by far one of the hardest IB offers to get in London. Even if you look at the superday's, compared to BB's and other London EB's there is a great step up in difficulty. Most London PJT analysts stay on to the associate level as the pay is great and they have a choice whether to focus on RX or M&A as the analyst programme is generalist. However, for those that would like to move to the European buy-side you will get looks from everywhere (MFPE, distressed Funds, HF's) due to your skillset and the pure fact that the analyst class is very small (However, MFPE greatly depends if you can speak an additional European language). Also, (People are not going to like this) I don't care what any of you guys say but if you really know analysts in BB's and EB's within London PJT have some of the smartest and technically sound analysts I've come across, No Bulls!t! In the London office word is they do a modelling tests during summer internships and the average among interns was a figure in the high 90%'s. Tbh surprisingly they're all not complete hardos too.
Thanks for taking the time to provide your insight
Bump
What exits are you trying to "optimise" for in PE? London recruiting isn't as standardised as US and lots of factors come into play for PE recruiting (MFPE or MMPE). Some of these factors are Euro languages, networking, and deal exposure which sometimes skews exits from a certain place.
If you were to focus solely on training, reputation and deal experience, the ranking above is relatively accurate for MFPE/UMM (though I would switch PWP and Evr), though you will get inbounds from HH's at all of those places (including HL if its RX) and the rest is on you. Yes, Lazard might give you a small edge vs Evercore in London, but it's not something to rave about. In the end of the day, those incremental differences are just with the HH's (and you can usually bypass them if you know people at Fund X that is hiring). Once you are infront of the investment team, no one gives a fuck if you went to Lazard, Evercore, GS or Greenhill. Its a level playing field for all.
For the other boutiques, I'd put PJT right at the top, due to the generalist M&A and RX exposure at the analyst level. RX is on fire and will continue to be given that we are going into a recession, and the experience is much more technical than M&A. With the blowups in so many portco's, lots of funds are now starting to look for people with heavy RX exposure and a more technical skillset (source, lots of mates at other MFPE funds who are hiring). Most of people at PJT have a natural interest in DD/SS given the team is the best on street, so exits naturally skew to the distressed side of things. Moelis also exits quite well in London and is looked at favourably by all Funds (though exits also skew to the distressed side given they have an excellent RX platform as well).
One thing to add if you have an offer from (HL/Laz/EVR/PWP/Roths), is that I would consider PWP a better platform than EVR in London, especially if optimising for exits. I wouldn't consider HL at a similar level to any of the others unless you have an offer from the RX team.
Thank you so much for the thorough detail; navigating a decision like this is quite hard so to have this helps tremendously. For context I am trying to enter MFPE.
I assume you don't have offers from all of the boutiques listed above, but if you did and are optimising for MFPE:
I would go Laz, Roths, PWP, Evr, HL. Though your experience as an analyst will be much more enjoyable at PWP due to higher pay, and leaner deal team which will give you more responsibility.
Again, this is not to say that if you go to Laz or whatever you will end up at a MFPE firm. Lots of factors come into play as I outlined above which will affect your ability to get interviews. In the end of the day, all of those firms are great so dont stress about it.
I assume this is for an internship since FT market is frozen in London. If I were you, I would give a much bigger weighing to conversion rates. Laz and Roth conversion this year was extremely shit compared to other boutiques (from what my mentees tell me). In the current environment, this should be your no.1 priority.
Nb PWP M&A hours are brutal, mate working 9-3 every weekday + plus long hours most weekends. Apparently culture in some teams is also very dry
What team ? FIG/Fintech? Ive heard of long hours in that team as well as RX
For exits imo is: PJT > EVR > Laz > Roths => PWP. If RX is in play then swap EVR with Laz.
I thought PJT did well only at RX. Are these exits for Corp PE?
Also surprised to see EVR rising above Lazard, I always thought their EMEA franchise wasnt that great
Lazard has had barely any MF exits recently. But ngl I would assume that's likely because in their London office it's mainly brits which don't speak Euro languages vs other EBs with more Europeans, rather than perceived strength of bank by MFs
In terms of league tables / dealflow yes, but exits I believe no. PJT exits are strong all around. Laz MF PE exits are rare.
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