M&A product groups at BB vs M&A at EB
Do all banks have m&a product groups? Of cource m&a is bread and butter of eb's - which one's have groups that exclusively focus on m&a (so w/o restructuring like moelis)?
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should have clarified for interns but thanks
...this is bad advice. You know how you know this guy doesn't know what he's talking about? Goldman doesn't have an M&A group. Also, many people don't list the group they work for on LinkedIn.
OP, the only way to really get a sense of this is to network and talk with current people in the industry.
they have/had m&a solutions, but that is not necessarily an m&a product group like JPM has.
edit: it looks like they've since restructured since I went through their recruiting process
Hi LifeIsGood,
I had the same question going into the recruiting process and wish this was clearly laid out for me. Some banks combine the M&A execution in their coverage teams, and others do not (i.e. there is a separate "M&A" group). In general, BBs will have a separate M&A team (there are exceptions), and EBs execute M&A out of the coverage groups. Listed how things are structured below for the banks that I can remember this info for.
M&A and Coverage Separate: Citi, UBS, JPM, MS, CS, Wells Fargo M&A and Coverage Combined: GS, Barclays, Moelis, Lazard, Evercore, Greenhill, Guggenheim, Lincoln International, PJT, Macquarie
I definitely considered this distinction during recruiting, best of luck!
I believe BAML also has an M&A group, and DB hasn't
Thanks DilutedEPS!
So how to banks like MS decide which groups intern are placed. Say I'm exclusively interested in M&A group, how much control do I have over my placement at a BB?
Of course, happy to help. I'm headed to an EB so I didn't delve too much into the placement process at firms that have a separate M&A group. With that said, my thoughts are:
At least with respect to MBA recruiting, you effectively know which group you are going to end up in, as your networking and informationals converge around more or less a single group as the process evolves. For example, some firms have you list your preferences after you get an offer (and before for that matter), but if your entire process revolved around chats with M&A bankers, I think it is very unlikely that you would be placed outside of the M&A group. Certain BBs hire directly into groups too.
The above is for MBA level only - not sure on analyst process.
Typically incoming interns are sent a list of the groups and a packet including slides for each group (examples of clients, past deals), afterwards the interns reach out to the listed contacts and work their way through the group with networking calls, and eventually pref their choices. In terms of control, it comes down to how well the networking goes (usually helps to have alumni in the group). Obviously the more popular groups are harder to get into but at the end of the day it is doable even if you don't have any prior connections. If your networking is going well, typically the groups will reach out and tell you where they intend to pref you in return which is helpful when you are thinking about which groups to prioritize. In summary, it's a matching process where you rank them and they rank you (EXTREMELY similar to sorority rush if you are familiar with that).
Specifically regarding MS, their associates go through a period of being generalists before being put into groups (NYC office)
That's mostly accurate, although at some EBs the idea of a coverage group is pretty fuzzy. It really only matters at the senior level; analyst thru vp will generally be cross-vertical so it's more like one big M&A product group at a bb (e.g. PJT follows this model)
Agreed - definitely more nebulous at certain firms, and some firms run generalist programs for periods of time (Evercore, Moelis, Greenhill etc).
This isn't entirely true. While some groups have separate M&A and coverage teams, they may also have an additional smaller combined coverage M&A team. For example, JPM has separate M&A and tech teams but also has a technology M&A team.
Re: group selection at BBs, it is a bit of a crapshoot and M&A tends to be one of the more desirable groups. Like someone mentioned, there are always groups that “do their own M&A”.
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