Eyeing LA banks and need some advice (preferably from someone familiar with the landscape). It is my understanding that Moelis and Credit Suisse have the best exits and reputation with a few other good offices as well (MS, Barclays, Lazard).
The Moelis rep is obviously unreal and I’ve heard it’s basically a fraternity. CS’s sponsors and LevFin are also known as top groups on the street from what I understand (and CS NY says the LA office is the place to be). Heard Barclays has a strong sponsors group as well, and that MS is great but is a coverage/regional office. Anything I have incorrect or missing? Would love some more insight as someone who works in a different city but is trying to get out to LA
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MS LA has an M&A product group as well as its coverage groups. Really strong office.
Exits are not the same as they once used to be and most operations and senior folks are based out of NY now. LA office will definitely change once Ken, Navid, Jeff, etc retire.
NY is getting better, but LA is still the stronger office. This above commentator is completely misinformed. Exits continue to be very strong and I've heard the culture in LA is much better than NY.
Completely untrue, wtf are you on about. Highly doubt this "prospect" knows what he's talking about. Navid or Jeff are going to be CEO when Ken steps down and both are relatively young.
Don't know what you're talking about - Ken has publicly stated that he's going to focus on deals once he steps down as CEO. Plus Navid & Jeff work primarily out of the LA office.
My info is also second-hand, but I'm pretty sure I'm better informed than a "prospect".
Not true, but not untrue.
Exits are not the same as they once used to be because LA office couldn't retain analysts and they were getting MBA associates that weren't as high caliber as analysts. Decided they will transition to encourage A2A and some of the recruiting support that used to be provided aren't there any more. With that, average pool of analysts going to LA office has deteriorated in the last year or two >> exits not as great as a class because not all analysts are as high caliber as previous classes were. With the exception of last one or two classes, placements into MF, UMM has been 80% of the entire class in LA office. Now, that's probably only 25% of the class (high caliber talents still go to LA office knowing that great track record gives them looks from all HHs and they are confident they can place).
This is blatantly untrue at the analyst level. Have several very close analyst friends in the LA office who mentioned how supportive of PE recruiting the team was. Many were encouraged to spend the on-cycle week in NY if they wanted to do PE back on the East Coast and many placed into MF and UMM on both coasts. The caliber of analysts continue to be top-tier, I went to a heavy target for the office (Wharton) where Moelis LA was considered one of the best groups on the Street. Have heard that the team continues to recruit heavily out of Wharton.
FWIW when I was speaking to headhunters, one of them specifically used Moelis LA as an example of a group that placed extremely well.
Went through the LA banking analyst program at a mid-tier industrials group. I can confirm that Moelis and CS have their strongest groups in LA. However, after looking at exit opportunities, amongst LA banks, Moelis/CS/Barclays/Lazard/MS typically all have very similar exits to top MMs/MFs. Although Moelis does edge it slightly, If you're lucky to get into any of those five banks, you should be set to have a good career in finance. Don't worry!