Going through the recruiting process for SA 2021 currently and looking for some opinions on some of the middle market players like Brown Gibbons & Lang, Imperial Capital, Capstone Headwaters, Cowen, and Stephens. Also interested in identifying some other banks who do work in the same space. Any help or insights are appreciated!
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Hey YoungChimpMiami, I'm the WSO Monkey Bot and I'm here since nobody responded to your topic! Bummer...could just be unlucky but one of these topics will help shed some light:
Hope that helps.
bump
i dont know about the rest but cowen is well known.
BGL, Cowen and Stephens all do well in 1-2 sectors. Think Cowen is HC off the rockers.
BGL: don't know
Stephens: pretty decent across the board but do you want to live in Little Rock, AR with the CEO"s private jet?
Imperial, FT Partners and Capstone Headwaters are unknown and not that worth it. Like putting GS next to HL.
Capstone Headwaters - as others have mentioned, they are far more loose than the others, particularly because of their independent MD model
BGL - terrible culture (search function), decent LMM deal flow in certain sectors (industrials, business services, healthcare)
Imperial - used to be a decent, but deal flow is down considerably vs. 5 years ago. I believe they've been consolidating their offices/geographic presence and do better in the Western U.S. I've never seen them on a pitch FWIW.
Cowen - very strong ECM presence in biotech and pharma (as someone mentioned, crushing it this year). Historically weak in M&A, but has been adding M&A talent for the past several years with some acquisitions, poaches from Stifel, BMO, etc.
Stephens - pretty solid all around, competes well for LMM deals. Known more for industrials, business services from what I know about them. Actively pitch a lot of things and work on LMM sponsor deals.
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