Currently based in London in transaction services (have ACA).
Have offers from Big 4 lead advisory M&A team and an IB boutique (think Panmure/GCA/Zeus/Cannacord).
Which would set me up best for PE / buyside further down the line?
Salary marginally better at the boutique, but does big 4 carry a better name for small-mid market PE in London?
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Without knowing which boutique I would still say go for the boutique. Note though that some of those you have listed above are corporate brokers - are you sure it is the M&A advisory division of those? Do they have a track record of PE deals?
Out of interest which ones are corporate brokers? I assumed that atleast all except Zeus are real MM IBs? Although for some reason I have an ER association for Panmure Gordon
Zeus and Panmure both corporate brokers though Zeus trying to do more M&A. Canaccord included Hawkpoint but over the past few years has becoming much more broking focused.
Can’t add much but did you make a direct application to the firm or was it through a recruiter?
Canaccord definitely better than Big 4, Panmure / GCA / Zeus probably more in line with Big 4
Disagree - GCA better than Big4 too. Thing people have to remember is the Big 4 are constantly chopping and changing whether lead advisory (as they call it) is a focus or not. Also with regulation changing, suspect it will be even less of a focus. The Big4 in the UK e.g. are actually trying to sell off some of their broader advisory departments.
Yeah but OP specifically asked about buyside exits. LMM PE hiring in the UK is dominated by Big 4, have not really seen anyone from the likes of Panmure, Zeus or GCA there.
Interesting responses - thanks all. I am a bit surprised as a quick search on Linkedin shows much more people exiting to PE from the big 4 than these firms (struggling to find any PE exits at all). Unless you think this is simply a function of the numbers the big 4 have?
The thing is, loads of UK MM / LMM PE firms like to hire ACA qualified guys from big4. This may explain why you are seeing so many PE exits from big 4 and not so much from those boutiques.
Again because some of the boutiques you have listed aren't M&A houses traditionally.
Would love to know your experience of recruiting into these roles from TS - DM me.
Imo Big4>boutiques for FT. If it was for an internship and then planning on recruiting for another internship at BBs/EBs it would be the opposite.
Few reasons for that:
UK LMM/MM hire frequently from ACA programs in TS/FAS/M&A at the big4.
BBs/EBs hire Big4 guys more than they do from small boutiques for Analyst 2-3/Asso1 roles after your ACA. And from there the buyside should be relatively easy.
But UK MM & LMM PE hire from a load of mid market IBs too. In the UK it was different historically - there were limited mid market M&A houses and accountancy was seen as an obvious entry point. Look at the juniors at these firms now and you will definitely see hires from mid market M&A houses. Also we are using the term boutique quite liberally - agree, OP if it is a no name boutique then go for Big 4. Also if it is a corporate broking house then go for the Big4.
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