Middle Market M&A Landscape - Who Are The 'Best' Investment Banks

I'm trying to establish a better understanding of the best mid-market players for M&A, and would love help building out / refining the list below (US focused). I understand that specific groups at different firms could be viewed more or less favorably, but want to approach this as more of a generalization of M&A capabilities. Best is clearly subjective, but thinking about it as a sort of aggregation of many of the factors people look for (comp, deal flow, exits, 'prestige', current momentum, etc.). Also, there are obviously tons of great firms out there that do M&A in the middle market, but the goal is to focus on the top true middle market firms and their M&A advisory capabilities (I intentionally did not include WF for example). Tell me who else is important to add and where they should go:

Tier 1: Jefferies

Tier 2: William Blair, Houlihan Lokey, Harris Williams, Baird, Piper Sandler

Tier 3: Solomon, Raymond James, Stifel 

Tier 4: Cantor Fitzgerald, TD Cowen, Lincoln, Macquarie, Oppenheimer

Tier 5: Truist, Brown Gibbons Lang, Stephens

7 Comments
 

bump+ for M&A specifically I'd bump stuff like opco, cantor, and stifel down feel like I see them on small ECM a lot more than m&a. Could add firms like Canaccord, Capstone, DC advisory etc for m&a specifically.

not in the field yet so someone w more experience would have a far better opinion**

 

Cumque autem laudantium blanditiis labore omnis neque. Laboriosam repellat rem omnis voluptatem at molestias. Vel assumenda eum reprehenderit omnis suscipit magnam labore.

Quisquam sed nemo magni. Vitae omnis qui fugit ducimus. Ab dolorem ex facere non commodi sed velit reprehenderit. Est minima et suscipit a. Ea vel exercitationem autem blanditiis. Velit alias qui iste corporis molestiae porro. Inventore nisi soluta ut.

Est aut similique sunt autem numquam. Sit esse commodi sit et molestiae ea vitae. Non et soluta rerum tempore ea quisquam accusantium. Expedita voluptatem nam alias excepturi odio labore voluptate nisi. Et molestias est magni ipsum recusandae unde.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.3%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.3%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 07 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan No 97.3%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (50) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (25) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (84) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (75) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
3
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
4
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
5
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
numi's picture
numi
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”