M&A at BofA or RX at HL - London?
Hi everyone,
I have an offer for a Summer Analyst position in M&A at Bank of America and an offer from Houlihan Lokey in restructuring (both for London). I am not sure which to pick. I have some previous experience in RX which I liked but am quite indifferent between RX or M&A. I want to exit from IB to the buy-side after 2/3 years but don't have a particular preference as to whether distressed or not. My long-term goal is to set up my own fund. My current considerations are:
- HL is a Boutique: sweatshop, less brand name, but top RX team and very good exits to distressed funds
- BofA is a BB: big analyst class, strong brand name but not tier 1, strong M&A team (risk of being put in a not so good industry team), large analyst class -> wider network
Does anyone have insights into conversion rates of SA to FT for the two firms?
I know that BofA pays 80-90k all-in to Year 1 analysts, how about HL?
How good are BofA's exits compared to HL's exits? For example, how high is the probability of receiving an offer from Oaktree on the back of HL vs Blackstone on the back of BofA?
Overall, I am tending towards BofA, change my mind.
Thanks for any responses!
I think you should really decide based on whether you want to do RX or M&A. This does not only influence your daily job but also network, skillset within and outside of finance, ability to raise a fund with a differentiated strategy, languages that you need to speak etc..
For what its worth,
HL is the top firm with PJT for RX in London. So basically any distressed/debt/ss fund will be on the table for you, however much much harder to do, PE, Equity, VC/GE etc. (nearly impossible to get brand name funds)
BofA is the 4th BB in London, trending upward but (slightly) below Top 3. If you have an otherwise strong profile (good team, European language, target, good rank), BofA will set you up very well for exits which have become much stronger recently (Warburg, BX, KKR, Centerbridge, Cinven, EQT etc. in the last couple of months). If you are a guy with a so-so CV and non-useful language, it will be an uphill battle.
Nothing to add to this besides that this guy seems to inflate a bit exits from BofA (on different threads) - BX was REPE/Credit, KKR was credit and sure both names are great but exits to normal LBO PE are a bit rarer.
You also have 1 exit to PE Carlyle and there is a BX exit to LBO too, no idea about KKR tho
Know someone who went to Bain Cap LBO PE from BofA LF too
It's not like REPE/Credit is any less competitive. Even at Goldman TMT your chances of landing at BX are slim-to-none. You might also not know BX REPE is the best performing European fund they have with the best deal flow
BofA better platform for your career from a brand name and networking perspective. Also broader options, incl. outside finance.
unless you’re passionate about RX I would go for BofA.
If you are looking for exit opps both in Finance and Corp Dev BofA is the clear champion in the UK
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