London Ranking Exit opps PE and HF

The list in my opinion should be:

1) GS, MS
2) PJT, JPM (PJT>JPM if interested in restructuring)
3) Lazard, Moelis, Evercore (all three also top for hedge funds especially if in restructuring at LAZ or Moelis. Plus all three have the great advantage of having a generalist pool which gets you great exposure to restructuring and M&A ans allows you to work on a great variety of deals, plus relatively easy mobility to the US if you want to transfer. Plus average first year bonus of 90% from what I have been told from friends)

BIG GAP

4) PWP, BAML, Rothschild, Credit Suisse (exception for CS Leveraged Finance which is at GS level for exit opps)
5) Citi, Greenhill, Centerview
6) DB, Barclays (exception for DB Lev Fin which is on par with PWP and BAML for exit opps)

BIG GAP

7)UBS, Jeffefries, HSBC, RBC
8) BNP, Nomura, Macquarie
9) MUFG, Mizuho

This list is specifically for exit opps. Let me know if you disagree. Cheers!

P.S.= IMO Rothschild should be higher if you want to be a banker for life, but here we are focusing on exit opps for PE and HFs

 

Thanks for the response, I think Citi has become very commercially focused while CS has an outstanding Lev Fin team which is top for buyside recruiting so I am going to stand with my judgement there. As far as GS vs MS I think it is a toss-up, all pretty much the same, at least in London.

 

Hey, glad you are actively monitoring my activity ahaha. Actually, I went for JPM eventually because I was not sure I wanted to do restructuring. But I must admit it was a tough decision between the three offers. I am honestly glad that you think BBs are generally better than EBs as it reaffirms to me that I made the right choice which I was feeling sort of insecure about.

 

Hey, yes you are factually correct about their M&A, when looking on their website transactions seem pretty small in M&A. However, the list was focused on exit opps not strength of the bank; it is important to stress that the most important thing in buyside recruiting is how many interviews you get, which depends a lot on how head hunters perceive you. I have friends working as analysts at Evercore and similar boutiques receiving daily calls from head hunters, this does not happen to friends of mine working at BAML for example. Again, this may be due to head hunters not doing their job well and EBs having the advantage of a small analyst class but this is what I see in the market. Most classmates of mine turned down lower tier BBs in favour of EBs (with one exception of a guy turning down PWP for Citi), maybe they made a mistake but I doubt they are all so incredibly dumb. They attend a very target school in London and generally know what the buyside wants, I expect them to make pretty rational decision.

 
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They have a very small analyst class that covers all deals for non Americas - ie EMEA+ Asia. They get great exposure to large deals in M&A ie GSK-Tesaro and great Rx deals ie Kenya Airline. So the experience is great. Work life balance is top notch - most bankers go play sports every Friday evenings together. Pay is massive (50k base + 70bonus). And finally for exits seniors will call their friends on the buyside and vouch for you - hence sending people to KKR (2 last year out of 12 analyst/class). Exits to SS HFs etc are great too. You are a true generalist ie no industry coverage/product as an analyst which gives you the best optionality in your career vs being in a team at BAML/Citi which allows you to get a deeper understanding of an industry but may limit you ie FIG/RE/Nat Res. Deal teams are leaner at PJT which gives you more responsibilities earlier on. Seen folks from GS go to PJT - says a lot. A recent BAML C&R (arguably a good team at BAML) analyst moved to PJT.

 

Thank you very much, very useful info for me. I like the idea of being a true generalist. I just read that Hoolihan Lookey, Moelis, Lazard are very good at Restructuring. Intrested to know what do you think about them as compared to PJT and GS, MS, JPM?

 

You are right on all points, only disagreement is maybe about HL, they almost always represent the creditors which is seen as less prestigious as they have less understanding of the operations of the firm. This generally tends to hurt their analysts when it comes to buyside recruiting. On the other hand, representing the creditors gets you to make more contacts with the buyside but my guess is that you start making those contacts only when you reach associate/VP level.

 

I know for a fact it is relatively easy to get exposure on RX at Lazard if you ask, as most analyts still perceive M&A as more prestigious. Honestly, I may be biased but if you are not sure between M&A and RX, then Evercore and Lazard are your best bets, followed by Moelis and Rothschild. For M&A and RX mixture: Lazard=Evercore> Rothschild/Moelis> All Else

If you are sure about goint into distressed then pick PJT or Houlihan over anything else

 

Go for RX focused shops if you are sure that you want to distressed, otherwise go for the BBs. One aspect to consider is that RX is anti-cyclical and thus you are less likely to get laid off in case of a recession (which is likely to come by within the next 2 years). May be something worth considering. Invite anybody to correct me if they think I am wrong about this

 

What i want is to get a job in some special situation/event driven hedge fund, but not sure exactly what is the best way to get there. Obviously M&A is very good, but recently i started looking into restucturing as an option. I would appreciate if you could share what you think about it?

 

Well, mane HFs use special situation as a synonym for distressed so in that case go for HL/PJT/Moelis or Lazard RX. Event driven on the other hand may prefer M&A. I was pondering the same thing and thus eventually went for the M&A offer and not the restructuring offer because I find credit investing (even distressed) quite boring and would much rather go into long/short equity which prefers M&A people. I believe that if you know for a fact that you want to do distressed then you should immediately go for restructuring, the secret of making a lot of money fast is to specialize asap in something relevant and becoming very good at it.

 

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